"Misery and Gin" is the title of a song written by Snuff Garrett

Snuff Garrett

Snuff Garrett is a retired American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s. His nickname is a play on Garrett's Snuff, a brand of snuff....

 and John Durrill, and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

. Released in July 1980, it was the first single from the album Back to the Barrooms

Back to the Barrooms

Back to the Barrooms is an album by American country singer Merle Haggard, released in October 1980. The album's first single, "Misery and Gin", reached the top-ten on the U.S...

. "Misery and Gin" reached #3 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

chart and peaked at #4 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks.

Content

The narrator discusses how he always ends up at the bar trying to drink away memories. The narrator goes on to say how the alcohol makes memories come back to haunt him.

Chart performance

Chart (1980)	Peak positiion
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks	3
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	4