“I Love Not Drinking” by Eric Hirshberg is not your typical sobriety song.
Released to coincide with Dry January – a month in which people try not to drink for 31 days – the song celebrates all the pleasant things about living without alcohol.
“The name of this song started as an answer to the question ‘Why don’t you drink?’ ” Hirshberg, 55, tells PEOPLE. “I started saying, ‘Because I like not drinking,’ and that answer kind of stopped people because they realized it was a positive choice. All the language around quitting drinking is negative. ‘I stopped drinking.’ ‘I stopped drinking.’ I wanted a positive phrase because it’s very positive for me.”
The song, which includes bar sounds like shaking cocktail shakers and clinking beer glasses, features Grammy-nominated artist Aloe Blacc.
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Hirshberg adds that the song has already resonated with listeners on different health journeys.
“Some have been very emotional from people who have clearly struggled with addiction who appreciate a song that is kind of an anthem for them,” says the singer-songwriter. “Others were from people like me who prefer a life without alcohol. And some were from people who are kind of ‘sober curious’ and thinking about a change. I tried to write it carefully so as not to be judgmental.”
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Instead of drinking, Hirshberg likes to surf, draw, box, exercise, write music and spend time with his wife, two sons and friends.
“Those are the things that make me the happiest, and alcohol seemed to get in the way of most of them,” he says.
In the chorus, Hirshberg and Papa Blacc sing, “I like not drinking / I like not thinking about how I’m going to get home / Or what I said / Or if this is my bed / I like not drinking / I like not thinking, ‘Did I just said out loud?’ / Or, ‘Where am I now?’ / Or, ‘My kids would be so proud,’ sarcastic.”
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“Volim ne piti” is the latest single — after “Good morning” and “Halfway to home” — from Hirshbeg’s second album Passive smokingwhich comes out on February 2.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education