Milk and Alcohol - 2002 Remaster

The origin of this song is related in the 1997 biography Down by the Jetty: The Dr. Feelgood Story, by Tony Moon. It started as a riff by guitarist John Mayo; he played it in a dressing room in Holland to vocalist Lee Brilleaux, then it became an instrumental backing track, then producer Nick Lowe put lyrics to it, although it was produced by Richard Gottehrer.

Running to around 2 minutes 55 seconds, it is the fourth track on the October 1978 Private Practice album, and was released as a single on the United Artists Records label in January 1979 backed by "Every Kind Of Vice". It is the band's biggest hit, and was inspired by a John Lee Hooker lyric on the same subject; in Hooker's song "It Serves You Right To Suffer," he sings, "Your doctor put you on milk, cream and alcohol."