Pop a Top

The narrator, a bar patron, asks the tender to open another bottle of beer for him, and then he'll go. He commences to tell the bartender about his grief because his girl left him, and either he'll hide it with beer, or he'll be at home remembering heɾ.
The sound of a metal "pop-top" can being opened was a novelty, and that is a significant factor in the creating of this song. The metallic click and hiss sound of opening this type of container is featured several times in the song.

The music video for Jackson's version was directed by Steven Goldmann, and features Cledus T. Judd. The video opens with Cledus opening a beer and suddenly finding himself at a black tie event, while Alan Jackson performs the song onstage. The video switches between shots of Jackson and his band performing, Cledus socializing, and various people transforming into alternate (usually intoxicated, working class, or "country") versions of themselves whenever a glass passes in front of the camera. At the end, just as Cledus is about to kiss a beautiful woman, he finds himself back in his kitchen, alone, and frantically opens more beers to "get the magic back."

"Pop a Top" is a popular drinking game in the American south. In this game, the song is played as a cue to tell players when to drink. When the lyric "pop a top, again" is sung, the player must then open and drink a beer before then next time the lyric repeats. When played to completion, the player will consume three beers during the course of the song.

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics