Life can be a rollercoaster ride with peaks and valleys sending you in directions that can be
completely unexpected. This has certainly been the case for Jimmy Mallia- a business man
turned singer/songwriter from Texas has now released his first single about overcoming his
biggest demon: drinking.
Jimmy Mallia has released the country tune “Hey Hey”, which can be heard on all major
platforms starting on Oct. 25. Anyone who knows the struggle of alcoholism will take the song to
heart and understand the innuendos thrown into his lyrics. But don’t expect to be sad and blue
from listening to it.
This is a song that celebrates getting through the struggle and trouble associated with drinking,
in the style of a barroom sing along that with a catchy chorus and fun, dancy rhythm.
“I could have done it kind of melancholy but I thought it would be much cooler to be a sing along
song,” Mallia explained.“So it is like a bar song about going to AA. It’s very raucous. It’s very
rowdy. It’s definitely like an old time kind of country song with a standup piano and a guitar.”
Mallia explained that he had been working on the tune for a long time, and as it evolved after
spending time attending AA. He said believe it or not, people going to AA do have a lot of fun. It
isn’t just going to meetings and talking about how bad life sucks and what happened to them.
It
is more about getting through it together, and there is plenty of happiness involved.
“It’s really a lot of camaraderie and a lot of laughter, and I wanted to bring that out in this song,”
Mallia said.
“So at the end of the song there is a singalong for the chorus. I really wanted to get
across that alcoholism is a serious issue, but you can have fun in sobriety.”
Mallia, 59, said he has about 20 songs and wants to get some of them recorded. He has been
playing guitar and singing since he was a kid, but he started really writing songs about 16 years
ago and recently decided he was at the stage of life to get these songs out.
“All of my songs are life experiences,” Mallia said. “Almost every one of them is something
personal.”
Mallia was born and raised in the small island town of Galveston, Texas and after going to
college at the University of Texas and some time working in Houston, he moved to Lafayette,
Louisiana. He had three daughters with his first wife, went through a tough divorce, but
eventually ended up with full custody. He essentially raised his daughters by himself, and now
has three grandsons.
“My life is like a Netflix story,” Mallia said. “There are so many side stories along the way.”
The song “Hey Hey” is about recovery from the excessive drinking that he had been plagued
with for about 40 years. He said unlike some alcoholics, he was able to function and live a
highly successful life. But it cost him his sanity at points, and now three years clean, he said life
couldn’t be better.
“With recovery you’re really not supposed to say AA, say you’re in it,” Mallia said. “Supposed to
be anonymous. So it hit me to say Hey Hey, instead. One line is, “I think it’s time for me to go to
Hey Hey.” This is a true story of me drinking for 40 plus years as a functional alcoholic.”
Mallia has had plenty to contribute to his struggles, whether it be emotional aspects from failed
relationships, handling family issues and whatever life threw at him. He explained that toxic
relationships and being at home during the Covid-19 pandemic hit him especially hard, which
caused him to hit the bottle hard as well. One day he said he couldn’t keep going on.
He didn’t
go to rehab, but AA is what saved him.
“Some lines in the song are a whole lot of AA sayings that people will pick up on,” said Mallia.
“People who are in AA are going to know exactly what this song’s about. It may be hidden from
other people, they might not get it, but it is a short song about my journey to get to AA.”
He said fortunately he hit his rock bottom when his kids had grown, but he noted that it is
inevitable for people who drink like he did to eventually reach that bottom, and it is about how
you go from there.
“Everyone’s rock bottom is different,” said Mallia. “I didn’t end up living on the streets or
anything, but my sanity was totally gone. It was not a good picture.”
Mallia said if he hadn’t gotten sober he would never had taken the steps to release the song.
When he was drunk he would have grandiose ideas but never follow through with them, something he said many alcoholics could probably relate to. When you sober up with a
hangover, the idea isn’t so attractive. He now sits on area council boards for AA and attends
multiple times a week.
He said the goal is to give up the will to God and let him direct your life,
which also goes for releasing his music. Mallia said this has made it freeing for him to do, and
he knows if his music takes off he is going in the right direction.
One of the lines to “Hey Hey” is: “After drinking 40 years, lots of whisky, a lot of tears.”
This is a good summary of what his life was like, he said. Now he is ready to move forward,
release his music, and live his best life.
“I am so much happier,” Mallia said. “I don’t have the least, least desire to drink. I’ve lost all that
urge to drink. I sit among family members. I go to events. I don’t drink and I don’t miss out. I still
have fun which I never thought would happen. I always thought the fun was because of the
alcohol.”
