Hot Tea, a longtime Goose fan favorite that is often selected as a set closer in the live setting, is also track 7 on "Dripfield," in which the song's usual jubilant party anthem feel gives way to a more downtempo funk style. Goose performed this slower version of the song at their Radio City Music Hall show on June 24, 2022, accompanied by Stuart Bogie on saxophone and Dripfield producer D. James Goodwin on guitar.

     It’s been awhile since I had a cup of hot tea that had that “special something” that was so good it made me contemplate life and death. Then again, every time I ever find myself sipping, even my daily decaf pour-over, I suppose I am plunging in on a certain level. Without trying too hard, I can imagine a very late evening with all the things dancing on a razor’s edge and me wondering just how it would all look if someone were to stumble upon me having succumbed completely in such a moment, in a situation that surely looks somewhat disheveled (at best) to the untrained eye. But isn’t that an artist’s way? Collecting piles upon piles of “what ifs?” so that when the moment actually occurs in which one might render a fully wrought masterpiece in just a single swing of the mighty hammer, one has both the hammer and the anvil, and sheets of bronze, copper—whatever it is we really need to be banging away at—now that it’s time?!

     So you throw on some Goose for your pre-midlife crisis soundtrack, and here comes that good ol’ familiar wobble. Ah, yeah: a classic little scat sing-along, an infectious hook, and even the lyrics that are about the honey right there on your spoon. Throw in a few greasy lines about satellite chasers, moon landings, and there we all are, astrally projecting over the steeping leaves, scents lingering in the air and on the tongue. It’s all just so cozy, so broken-in; you’ve heard it a thousand times on the first time, like the soundtrack to a myth. And now we’re throwing our old songs themselves on the fire when we come around, eagerly burning down even the best parts of the past as we reach up to the sky in celebration on that day when we’re ready to dance across the rainbow bridge. This is not a melancholy lament; it’s a dancing dirge that denies death any victory on our dying day. Almost like taunting someone with a “na na nana na na!” “Lay your weapons down and reach up to the sky when I die.” Celebrate… burn it all down… slurp it down and enjoy: we are going to find what it is we are looking for. It’s a defiant battle cry with a warbling sing along that the whole crowd can learn before their first time hearing it is even over.

     Most recently, it’s the cherry on top song for the end of a monumental run such as the Fall 2022 Taboose tour. Bring out the horns, bring out the organ solos, the dueling guitar runs, the kitchen sink. Might as well let it all hang out like it’s the end, or like it’s going to last forever. It’s the bright-eyed and bushy tailed swamp strut, big sing along, big skronk out that everyone wants, every time it’s played, fast or slow, long or short, special guest free-for-all or wink-wink to the old school faithful: we’re all on the razor’s edge, all the time, so we may as well be dancing with our hands all the way up.