The Near Future

An early precursor to the lyrics was published in an 1874 edition of Gem of the West and Soldiers' Friend, a journal of curious miscellany.

[5] When the State of Kansas passed a Prohibition law in 1917, which was signed by the governor on "the 23rd" [of February or March] the legislature greeted the event by singing "How Dry I Am".

[9] There is an old Greek song called Bufetzis (Μπουφετζής) written by Yiorgos Batis made with the music of "How Dry I Am".

Composer, television producer, and humorist Allan Sherman included in his concert album Peter and the Commissar a quodlibet titled "Variations On 'How Dry I Am'" and quoting works ranging from "Home on the Range" to "The Flying Trapeze" to the final section of the William Tell overture and the Russian military theme from Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

In a 1959 television broadcast titled "The Infinite Variety of Music", Leonard Bernstein found similarities between the opening notes of "How Dry I Am" and 22 other well-known melodies: the French song fr:Il était une bergère, the Moldau (Vltava) theme from Smetana's Má vlast, the waltz from Lehár's The Merry Widow, Handel's Water Music, Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata, the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No.2, Brahms's Piano Concerto No.1, the ending of Strauss's Death and Transfiguration, the nocturne from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, the Simple Gifts melody used by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring, the 1956 song The Party's Over from the musical Bells Are Ringing, Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, the Westminster chimes, Sweet Adeline, the finale of Prokofiev's 5th symphony, Wagner's Siegfried, the finale of Brahms's symphony no.1, Strauss's Salome and Der Rosenkavalier, Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata, the overture to Raymond by Ambroise Thomas, and the finale of Shostakovich's fifth symphony.

The song is used in the plot of The Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Denton on Doomsday", and is sung by Dan Duryea.

The song was referenced in a lyric by Method Man in a Wu-Tang Clan ad for St. Ides malt liquor.

The Salvation Army, to celebrate sobriety, uses the song (without lyrics) in both band and piano arrangements, in street concerts and meetings.