Jump to content

Sweet Home Alabama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 142.177.246.19 (talk) at 00:58, 18 June 2007 (→Political references: spelling correction). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

"Sweet Home Alabama"
Song

"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping.

"Sweet Home Alabama" was written as an answer to the songs "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young, which were critical of social conditions in the South. "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time (Dupree 1974). Van Zant's musical response, however, was equally controversial, with references to Alabama Governor George Wallace and the Watergate scandal. Despite (or perhaps because of) the debate, the song has become one of the most popular examples of Southern rock. It reached the top ten of the US charts in 1974 and was the band's second hit single. [1]

The Song and the Band's Career

"Sweet Home Alabama" was a major chart hit for a band whose previous singles had "lazily sauntered out into release with no particular intent." The hit led to two TV rock-show offers, which the band turned down. (Dupree 1974)

Creation and recording

At a band practice shortly after bassist Ed King had switched to guitar, King heard fellow guitarist Rossington playing a guitar riff that inspired him (in fact, this riff is still heard in the final version of the song and is played during the verses as a counterpoint to the main D-C+9-G chord progression). In interviews, Ed King has said that, during the night following the practice session, the chords and two main guitar solos came to him in a dream, note for note. King then introduced the song to the band the next day, and a hit was born. Also written at this session was the track that would follow "Alabama" on the Second Helping album, "I Need You."

A live version of the track on the compilation album "Collectybles" places the writing the song during the late summer of 1973, as the live set available on the album is dated October 30, 1973.

The track was recorded at Studio One in Doraville, Georgia, using just King, bassist Wilkeson, and drummer Burns to lay down the basic backing track. Ed King used a Marshall amp belonging to Allen Collins. The guitar used on the track was a late-1960's Fender Stratocaster. However, King has said that guitar was a pretty poor model and had bad pickups, forcing him to turn the amp up all the way to get decent volume out of it. This guitar is now displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

Interesting to note is that the famous "Turn it up" line uttered by Van Zant in the beginning was not intended to be in the song. Ronnie was just asking producer Al Kooper and engineer Rodney Mills to turn up the volume in his headphones so that he could hear the track better.

Following the two "woo's" at the start of the piano solo, Van Zant can be heard ad-libbing "My, Montgomery's got the answer." The duplicate "my" was produced by Kooper turning off one of the two vocal takes.

There is also a semi-hidden vocal line in the second verse after the "Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her" line. In the left channel, you can hear the phrase "Southern Man" being sung lightly. This was producer Al Kooper doing a Neil Young impression and was just another incident of the band members messing around in the studio while being recorded.

The count-in heard in the beginning of the track is spoken by Ed King. The count-in to the first song on an album was a signature touch that producer Kooper usually put on albums that he made.

Ironically, none of the three writers of the song were originally from Alabama. Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington were both born in Jacksonville, Florida. Ed King was from Glendale, California.

Political references

In conjunction with the defense of the South, the song contains political references which have caused controversy, particularly this verse:

In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

Some deny the song expresses support for Wallace's politics, interpreting the lyrics as saying that the band did all they could do to keep Wallace out of office. They argue that a jeer "Boo, boo, boo!" can be heard after the line "In Birmingham, they love the governor" and they interpret this as an attack on Wallace. In 1975, Van Zant said: "The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. The general public didn't notice the words 'Boo! Boo! Boo!' after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor" (Ballinger 2002:78). Footage of concerts where they performed the song also confirms the presence of this line [citation needed].

Various band members have denied that the song endorses segregation; in a recent radio interview, surviving members stated the last line "Montgomery got the answer" was a reference to the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fans also argue that the band was sympathetic to African-Americans, citing the songs "Things Goin' On", and "The Ballad of Curtis Lowe".

Another claim often made is that the third line of the above verse is in defense of the Watergate scandal. Again, many fans disagree, interpreting the line as either a reminder to critics that the South is not alone in having scandals or as a statement that corruption in politics is nothing exceptional and that it was Americans' own guilty consciences that were truly bothering them during the crisis.[citation needed] Another theory is that Van Zant was simply saying that the Watergate scandal was nothing that concerned him because he (and the South) had their own problems.

Muscle Shoals

One verse of the song includes the line "Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers/And they've been known to pick a song or two." This refers to the Alabama town Muscle Shoals, a fashionable location in the time period for recording popular music due to the "sound" crafted by local recording studios and back-up musicians. "The Swampers" referred to in the lyrics included (among others) Jimmy Johnson, who crafted the "Muscle Shoals Sound". Sometimes recording under the identity of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, these musicians included Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass), and Barry Beckett (keyboards), and they were inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame in 1995 for a "Lifework Award for Non-Performing Achievement." The nickname "The Swampers" was given to the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section by singer/songwriter Leon Russell.

Part of the reference comes from the 1971-1972 demo reels that Lynyrd Skynyrd had recorded at Muscle Shoals with Johnson filling in as a producer/recording engineer. Johnson helped refine many of the songs first heard publicly on the "Pronounced" album, and it was Van Zant's "tip of the hat" to Johnson for helping out the band in the early years and essentially giving the band its first break.

Versions

  • Hank Williams, Jr. performs this song on his 1987 live album, Hank Live.
  • In addition to the original appearance on Second Helping, the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd collections and live albums. The song also appeared on the famous late night talk show The Tonight Show. A few covers have appeared, notably a slowed-down rock version by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, as well as a more faithful version by the Charlie Daniels Band and an altered version by the country group Alabama (who changed the lyrics involving the Watergate scandal with a verse talking about Alabama football). The song even spawned a 2004 hip hop version by Alabama-based rap/hip-hop group Boyz After Money Always, which was performed at the Comedy Central Roast of Jeff Foxworthy. Former Saturday Night Live band leader G.E. Smith led the backing band for this performance.
  • Eminem performs a pseudo-rap version of this song in the film 8 Mile with one of his co-stars.
  • Perhaps the most unusual rendition of the song is by the surrealist Finnish rock group Leningrad Cowboys, featuring the Red Army Choir on the choruses.
  • Another version is one by James Brown from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The song is sung as Brown imagines Elvis would have sung it.[citation needed]
  • A Spanish version was made in the '80s by Spanish group Siniestro total called "Miña terra galega" (My Galician land); it can be listened to at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t02dFZI7nw4
  • Argentine rock singer Javier Calamaro realeased a song in Spanish called "Sweet Home Buenos Aires", with the music of this song. Later, argentine rock icon Charly García, released the song in his album "Demasiado ego" with Calamaro as a guest. He usually performs this song after playing "Encuentro con el diablo", from his former band Serú Girán, which has an strong likeness to the Lynyrd Skynyrd song.
  • Adam Wescount sang the song for Severna Park High School's Rock N Roll Revival XVIII in March 2007
  • American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon's song "Play It All Night Long" lampoons many aspects of stereotypical southern culture, including mocking reverence towards "Sweet Home Alabama". Zevon's song explicitly names "Sweet Home Alabama" and references the 1977 plane crash:

"Sweet home Alabama"

Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long

Personnel

  • Ronnie Van Zant - Double-Tracked Lead Vocals
  • Ed King - Lead guitar, Solo guitar, backing vocals (first "woo" at the end of the last chorus)
  • Leon Wilkeson - Bass guitar, backing vocals (second "woo" at the end of the last chorus)
  • Bob Burns - Drums
  • Billy Powell - Piano
  • Allen Collins - Rhythm Guitar (left channel)
  • Gary Rossington - Rhythm guitar (right channel), Acoustic guitar (left channel)
  • Al Kooper - Producer, backing vocals (left channel)
  • Clydie King, background vocals
  • Merry Clayton, background vocals

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sweet_Home_Alabama&oldid=138878759"