Emmylou Harris – Two More Bottles of Wine

About The Song

“Two More Bottles of Wine” is a country song written by Delbert McClinton and first recorded by him for his 1975 album Victim of Life’s Circumstances. The track was covered by Emmylou Harris and released as a single on April 15, 1978, serving as the first single from her fifth studio album, Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. Produced by Brian Ahern for Warner Bros. Nashville, the Harris version runs 3:08 in length and features her Hot Band lineup of the period.

McClinton composed the song in the early 1970s while living in Los Angeles. He had relocated from Fort Worth, Texas, with his girlfriend Margaret “Maggie” Knight in a 1966 Chrysler Imperial, seeking opportunities in the West Coast music scene. They settled in a rundown apartment complex known locally as “Methedrine Manor.” McClinton took a job at a veterinary supply warehouse in West Los Angeles, where he performed menial tasks including sweeping. After the relationship ended and Knight returned to Texas, McClinton wrote the song on a mattress in the apartment, drawing directly from those events. The original recording lists the partner as “Maggie” and uses male pronouns consistent with McClinton’s perspective. He later re-recorded the song for his 1979 album Keeper of the Flame.

Harris selected the song after becoming familiar with McClinton’s 1975 album. She adapted the lyrics for a female narrator by changing pronouns and references (for example, “he left” and “my baby” in place of the original female name and pronouns) while retaining the core narrative structure. The song describes a couple moving west approximately 1,600 miles from their home in pursuit of success. After two months, the partner leaves. The narrator takes a warehouse job in West Los Angeles and repeatedly notes that the situation remains manageable because two bottles of wine remain available at midnight.

Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town was recorded in 1977 primarily at the Enactron Truck, a mobile recording studio operated by producer Brian Ahern and parked at a Beverly Hills residence. Wiring ran from the truck into rooms of the house that functioned as isolation booths for individual musicians. Personnel on the track include Emmylou Harris on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Brian Ahern on acoustic guitar, Albert Lee on electric guitar and piano, Hank DeVito on pedal steel guitar, Emory Gordy Jr. on bass, John Ware on drums, Glen D. Hardin on piano, Mickey Raphael on harmonica, and Dianne Brooks on backing vocals. Engineers were Brian Ahern, Bradley Hartman, and Donivan Cowart.

The single was issued with “I Ain’t Living Long Like This” (written by Rodney Crowell) as the B-side on some pressings. It entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and reached number one in June 1978, becoming Harris’s third chart-topping country single after “Together Again” and “Sweet Dreams.” It simultaneously topped the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. The parent album peaked at number three on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and later received gold certification. At the 21st Annual Grammy Awards, the album received a nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

McClinton has stated in interviews that he was unaware of Harris’s recording until after its release and chart success. He has also noted that publishing arrangements at the time limited his financial return from the cover. The song has been covered by other artists, including Terri Clark on her 2012 album Classic and a live version by Sheryl Crow and Vince Gill on the 2016 release The Life & Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration. Harris herself performed the song in later live settings, including a 2016 collaboration with Margo Price.

The original McClinton version appeared on Victim of Life’s Circumstances, recorded at the Record Plant in Los Angeles and produced by Johnny Sandlin. That album did not generate significant commercial chart activity for the track. Harris’s interpretation, backed by her established Hot Band and Ahern’s production approach of the late 1970s, brought the song to mainstream country radio and the top of the charts. Catalog releases have included the track on various Harris compilations such as Profile: Best of Emmylou Harris (1978), Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Years, and Heartaches & Highways: The Very Best of Emmylou Harris. Remastered editions of the original album appeared in subsequent decades under the Rhino/Warner imprint.

Chart data confirms the single’s peak positions solely on country formats in the United States and Canada during 1978. No significant crossover activity on the Billboard Hot 100 is recorded for this release. The song’s structure follows a verse-chorus form with an instrumental break and repeated final verses emphasizing the warehouse setting and the remaining bottles of wine. Publishing is credited to Universal Music Publishing Group and Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC under Delbert Ross McClinton as the sole writer.

Harris’s version remains one of the commercially defining singles from the Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town sessions, which also yielded charting tracks “To Daddy” (number three) and “Easy From Now On” (number 12). The album marked a continuation of her collaboration with Ahern and the Hot Band following Luxury Liner (1977). Subsequent covers and live performances have kept the composition in circulation within country and Americana repertoires, while the original McClinton recording continues to be referenced as the source material for the 1978 hit.

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Lyric

We came out west together with a common desire
The fever we had might’ve set the West Coast on fire
Two months later got trouble in mind
Oh my baby moved out and left me behind

But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight
And I got two more bottles of wine

The way he left sure turned my head around
Seemed like overnight it just up and put me down
Well I ain’t gonna let it bother me today
I’ve been workin’ and I’m too tired anyway

But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight
And I got two more bottles of wine

Well I’m sixteen hundred miles from the people I know
I’ve been doin’ all I can but opportunity sure come slow
Well I’d be in the sun all day
But I’m sweepin’ out a warehouse in West L.A.

But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight
And I got two more bottles of wine

I’m sixteen hundred miles from the people I know
I’ve been doin’ all I can but opportunity sure come slow
Lord, I’d be in the sun all day
But I’m sweepin’ out a warehouse in West L.A.

But it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight
And I got two more bottles of wine

Yes, it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight
And I got two more bottles of wine

Yes, it’s all right ’cause it’s midnight
And I got two more bottles of wine