![]() I can’t say that I’ll ever be back to the point of enjoying “Sweet Home Alabama” with an entirely easy conscience. (N.B.: I should mention here that members of the band responsible, Lynryd Skynyrd, have insisted that the song is not an endorsement of Wallace at all. That night, before I passed out, it took me three minutes on Wikipedia to discover that the Governor was George Wallace-George “Segregation Forever” Wallace-and that what I’d always imagined to be a harmlessly infectious rock song was something much darker, and more interesting. I did not know that there anything ethically objectionable to dancing to “Sweet Home Alabama” at a party, but I trusted my friend’s opinion and stopped then and there. ‘In Birmingham they love the Governor’? Do you know who the Governor was when that song came out?” Gawky white boy that I am, I can’t dance to anything, though that’s never stopped me. Morse Portnoy George included this song in a medley with " The Needle and the Damage Done" and " Cinnamon Girl" on their album Cover 2 Cover.Strictly speaking, that was true.It also appeared on their Dave Clark & Friends album. The Dave Clark Five's version was released in 1971 as a single.David Allan Coe covered the song on his 1985 album Unchained.Sylvester and the Hot Band included a funk version of the song on their self-titled 1973 album.She later performed backing vocals on "Sweet Home Alabama", after some personal conflict. Merry Clayton's version of the song appeared on her self-titled 1971 album.Young noted that Lynyrd Skynyrd's implied criticism was deserved because Young's lyrics on "Alabama" were condescending and accusatory. In his book Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream, Young stated that Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" not in response to "Southern Man", but rather to Young's song "Alabama". Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot can often be seen reciprocating by wearing a Jack Daniel's-styled Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt (including at the Live Rust concert). ![]() To demonstrate this camaraderie, Van Zant frequently wore a Neil Young Tonight's the Night T-shirt while performing "Sweet Home Alabama". "I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs." Young has also been known to play "Sweet Home Alabama" in concert occasionally. ![]() "They play like they mean it," Young said in 1976. Young has said that he is a fan of both "Sweet Home Alabama" and Ronnie Van Zant, the lead vocalist for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their song " Sweet Home Alabama" in response to "Southern Man" and " Alabama" from Young's 1972 album Harvest. During his 1973 tour, he canceled a show in Oakland, California because a fan was beaten and removed from the stage by a guard while the song was played. Young was very sensitive about the song's message of anti-racism and anti-violence. The song also mentions the practice of cross burning referencing the Ku Klux Klan. Southern Man, when will you pay them back? I saw cotton and I saw black, tall white mansions and little shacks. Young pleadingly asks when the South will make amends for the fortunes built through slavery when he sings: In the song, Young tells the story of a white man (symbolically the entire white South) and how he mistreated his slaves. The lyrics of "Southern Man" describe the racism towards blacks in the American South. ![]() An extended live version can be heard on the Crosby Stills Nash & Young album 4 Way Street. " Southern Man" is a song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young, from his album After the Gold Rush, released in 1970.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |