100 Best Songs of the South

accessatlanta ^ | 26-Aug-2005

[Tax-chick]

Bellamy Brothers, "You Ain't Just Whistlin' Dixie"
I love their harmonies; swamp-rock heirs to the Louvin Brothers

Don Williams, "Good Ole Boys Like Me"

Sawyer Brown, "Another Side"

Marty Robbins, "Five Brothers"

Charlie Daniels Band, "Legend of the Wooley Swamp"

Want rap? Bellamy Brothers "Country Rap"
"We got yer fatback, and that's a fact!"

[shuckmaster]

I'm a good ol' rebel.

[Tax-chick]

Anything by Steve Earle. (So shoot me ...)

[Moose4]

Two songs I'd add:

"Can't You See," Marshall Tucker Band -- maybe my favorite Southern rock song of all time (and yes, that includes "Free Bird," sacreligious as that may be). It's just an amazing song.

And as for Emmylou Harris, I'd switch out "Evangeline" with "Boulder to Birmingham," the song she wrote about Gram Parsons.

Other than that, a little too much rap and not enough Southern rock, but I wouldn't expect anything less from Access Atlanta/the AJC, a paper that's done more than its part to make Atlanta into the Detroit of the South (but with better weather).

}:-)4

[Moose4]

D'OH! Never mind, I just saw that they had "Can't You See" on there at #96. About sixty spots too low IMO. Certainly it should be ahead of all that cRAP that's smelling up the list.

And yeah, I couldn't help but notice the "civil rights anthems" leading the list. The AJC, keepin' dem white folks guilty since 1964.

}:-)4

[bmwcyle]

One of my favorite movies was the John Phillip Sousa Story when they were going to cancel his show in the south. The band came marching into town. Sousa announced the show with ever other song being Dixie. The southerns went wild.

[cowboyway]

I'm a good ole Rebel; by Johnny Horton

Johnny Horton does a version of it but it was written by Major Innes Randolph, C.S.A. and it's actually titled "Good Ol Rebel Soldier."

[mrs. a]

"Missing from the list: "Are you from Dixie?", "T for Texas", "Bonnie Blue", "Mountain Dew", Doc Watson, Bellamy Bros, and others."

I do believe that "Blue Yodel #1" - 35th on the list - is "T for Texas."

Correct me if I'm wrong!

[cowboyway]

Little Cabin Home on the Hill - Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt

Salty Dog - Morris Brothers (Flatt & Scruggs version)

Gimme Three Steps - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Bluegrass Rules - Ricky Skaggs

Dooley - The Dillards

Uneasy Rider - Charlie Daniels

Mississippi Queen - Mountain

Wild Eyed Southern Boys - 38 Special

Flirtin With Disaster - Molly Hatchet

Fox On The Run - T Hazzard

The Essential Earl Scruggs - all 40 songs

[Rte66]

Well, let's see ... in random order, as they come to me:

.Tara's Theme from Gone with the Wind - "The Hills of Home"
.Sweet Lorena - * ... I dream a dream of Sweet Loray-ay-ayna ... *
.Deep River - * ... deeeep river ... my home is over Jordan ...*
.Shenandoah - * ... oh, oh Shenando', I love your daughter ... come away, please come away ... rollin' cross the wide Missouri ...*
.Is it True What They Say About Dixie? - * ... does the sun really shine all the time? ... do they laugh, do they love like they say in ev'ry song? ... if it's true, then that's where I belong!*
.Down Yonder - * ... down yonder, someone beckons to me ... down yonder, someone reckons on me ... I seem to see a race in memory ... between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee ... down yonder, when the folks get the news ... don't wonder at the hullabaloo ... there's Daddy and Mammy .. there's Ephram and Sammy ... waitin' down yonder for me!*
.Waiting for the Robert E. Lee - * ... watch them shuffle along ... see them shuffle along ... oh take your best gal, your real pal ... go down to the levee, I said to the levee ... join the shuffling throng ... hear the music and song ... it's simply great, mate, waiting on the levee ... waiting for the Robert E. Lee!*
.Blues in the Night - * ... from Natchez to Mobile ... from Memphis to St. Joe ... wherever the four winds blow ... I've seen me some big things ... heard me some big talk ... but there's one thing I know ... a man is a two-faced, a worrisome thing that'll leave you to sing ... the blues in the night.*
.Birth of the Blues - * ... from a whippoorwill high on a hill, they took a new note ... pushed it through a horn, til it was worn into a blue note ... and then they nursed it, rehearsed it ... and gave out the news ... that the Southland gave birth to the blues!*
.Mammy - * ... Mammy, how I love ya, how I love ya, my dear old Mammy ... I'd give the world to be ... among the folks in D - I - X - I - E ... they know my mammy's waitin' for me, prayin' for me, down by the Suwanee ... the folks up north will see me no more, when I get to that Suwanee shore!*
.Cotton Fields - * ... way down yonder in Louisiana, just about a mile from Texarkana ... in them old cotton fields back home ...*
.The South's Gonna Do It Again - * ... gather 'round, gather 'round chillun' ... get down, well, just get down, chillun' ... get loud, well, you can be loud and be proud ... well, you can be proud, hear now ... be proud you're a rebel ... 'cause the South's gonna do it again ... and again!*
.Christmas in Dixie - * ... and it's snowing in the pines ... and from Fort Payne, Alabama ... Merry Christmas from Dixie to everyone tonight!*
.Ballad of the Boll Weevil - * ... just lookin' for a home, lookin' for a home ...*
.Goober Peas - *... peas, peas, peas, peas, eatin' goober peas ... sumthin sumthin ... the Georgia militia ... eatin' goober peas!*
.Deacon Blues - * ... they call Alabama the Crimson Tide ... call me Deacon Blues ...*
.Song of the South - * ... well, momma got sick and daddy got down ... the county got the farm and they moved to town ... papa got a job with the TVA ... he bought a washing machine and then a chevrolet ...*
.Shortnin' Bread - * ... mammy's little baby loves shortnin', shortnin' ... mammy's little baby loves shortnin' bread ...*
.If it Ain't Dixie - * ... if it ain't Dixie, it won't do ... it won't do ... if it ain't Dixie ... it don't feel quite like home ... my Southern blood runs deep and true ... if it ain't Dixie, it won't do.*
.Goin' to Jackson - * ... we got married in a fever ... hotter than a pepper sprout ... we been talkin' 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out ... goin' to Jackson ... you turn loose-a my coat ...*
.Opening TV theme to the Andy Griffith Show - no words, just whistlin'
.Mississippi Queen - * ... if you know what I mean ...*

.Walking in Memphis - * ... walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale ...*
.Chattanooga Choo-Choo - * ... pardon me boys, is that the cat that ate your new shoes? ... track 29, boy, you can give me a shine ... dinner in the diner ... nothing could be finer ... than to have your ham & eggs in Carolina ... when you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar ... then you know that Tennessee is not very far ...*
.Nothin' Could be Finer than to be in Carolina - *... in the moooornin' ... nothin' could be sweeter than my sweetie when I meet her in the moooornin' ...*
.My Tennessee Mountain Home - * ... in my Tennessee mountain home ... life is as peaceful as a baby's sigh ... in my Tennessee mountain home ... crickets sing in the fields near by ...*

.My Old Kentucky Home (Go Barbaro Go!)
.Kentucky Woman - * ... she gets to know you ... she goes to own you (or "goes to OU," if you're a Sooner) ...*
.Kentucky Rain - * ... keeps fallin' down ...*

.Jolie Blon' - don't know why this wasn't #1 in the Louisiana section
.Jambalaya - * ... goodbye, Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh ... me gotta go for me pirogue dans la bayou ... pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gayeaux ... sonofagun we'll have big fun ... on the bayou!*
.Shrimp Boats - * ... shrimp boats are a-comin', their sails are in sight ... shrimp boats "is" a-comin' ... there's dancin' tonight .. won't you hurry, hurry home ...*
.Way Down Yonder in New Orleans - * ... in the land of those dreamy scenes ... stop! ... you bet your life you'll linger there ... a little while ... there's a heaven right here on earth, with those beautiful queens ... way down yonder in New ... Orleans ...*
.House of the Rising Sun - * ... there is a house in New Orleans ... they call the rising sun ... and it's been the ruin of many a poor boy ... God, I know I'm one ...*
.Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? - * ...
.Blue Bayou - * ... and those fishing boats with their sails afloat, if I could only see ... a familiar sunrise, through sleepy eyes, how happy I'd be ... I'd never be blue, my dreams come true ... on blue bay-ooooo!*
.Stars on the Water - * ... Down in Louisiana bayous by and by ... pirogue pole or your natural soul ... Keeps you tied to a tree high tide ... Beaumont to Biloxi ... sea breeze at your door ... When it's midnight down in Mobile ... shinin' moonbeams on the bay ... it looks just like stars on the water ... like stars on the water ... feels like stars on the water ... let it rain ...*
.Walkin' to New Orleans - * ... got no time for talkin' ... gotta keep on walkin' ... walkin' to New Orleans ...*
.You Never Can Tell - * ... it was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well ... you could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle ... They bought a souped-up jitney ... 'twas a cherry red '53 ... they drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary ... it was there that Pierre was married to the lovely mademoiselle ... "C'est la vie" say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell!*
.City of New Orleans - * ... riding on the City of New Orleans ... Illinois Central, Monday morning rail ... Good Morning America, how are ya? ... Nighttime on The City of New Orleans ... changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee ... half way home, we'll be there by morning ... through the Mississippi darkness rolling down to the sea ...*
.Me and Bobby McGee - * ... busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin' for a train ... feeling near as faded as my jeans ... Bobby thumbed a diesel down ... drove us all the way to New Orleans ...*
.The Battle of New Orleans - * ... In 1814 we took a little trip, along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip ... we took a little bacon and we took a little beans ... and we fought the bloody British near a town named New Orleans ...*


(on to TX and OK in my next post)

[mrs. a]

He Went to Sleep - the Hogs Ate Him
(Stanley Brothers)


cho: Oh! he went to sleep and the hogs eat 'im
Hogs eat 'im, Hogs eat 'im
He went to sleep and the hogs eat 'im
Now pa's gone forever
Forever, Forever, Forever, Forever
Now pa's gone forever.

He never worked a day in his life
Left that for his lovin' wife
The way my paw did it was a shame
At harvest time he'd stay in the shade
Find a spot and down he laid
But we all loved 'im just the same.

He loved to spin big tall yarns
Pa would tell 'em from dusk to dawn
He would only stop awhile to eat
About that civil war he'd tell
Then let out a rebel yell
Then pa'd get tired and go to sleep.

He watched us work from where he set
He watched so hard he'd work up a sweat
At this my pa was hard to beat
He couldn't work, he got too fat
He supervised from where he sat
Then pa'd get tired and go to sleep.

Recorded: Folk Concert-Stanley Brothers/1976 Gusto SK-834

[cowboyway]

Down To The River To Pray - Alison Krauss

[Pyro7480]

Down To The River To Pray - Alison Krauss

Good choice!

[Rte66]

.Waltz Across Texas - * ... like a storybook ending, I'm lost in your charms ... and I could waltz across Texas with you ...*
.Red River Valley - * ... from this valley they say you are going ... do not hasten to bid me adieu ... just remember the Red River Valley ... and the cowboy who loves you so true ...*
.Ballad of the Alamo - * ... in the southern part of Texas in the town of San Antone ... lies a fortress all in ruins that the weeds have overgrown ... he takes his hat off slowly to the men of Alamo ... to the 13 days of glory at the Siege of Alamo ...*
.Miles and Miles of Texas - * ... I was born in Lousiana down on the ol bayou ... raised on shrimps and catfish and mammy's good gumbo ... I got the ramblin' fever, said goodbye to ma and pa ... crossed that ol' Red River and this is what I saw: I saw miles and miles of Texas ... all the stars up in the sky ... I saw miles and miles of Texas ... gonna live here till I die ...*
.Texas State of Mind - * ... I'm in a Texussss staaate of mind ... it's so good to hear your voice on the line ... California's too damn far, from you and that old Lone Star ... I'm in a Texas staaaate of miiiinnnd.*
.Texas When I Die - * ... when I die, I may not go to heaven ... 'cause I don't know if they let cowboys in ... but if they don't, then let me go to Texas ... 'cause Texas is as close as I've been ...*
.All My Exes Live in Texas - * ... All my exes live in Texas ... and Texas is a place I'd dearly love to be ... but all my exes live in Texas ... that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee ...*
.Luckenbach - * ... let's go to Luckenbach, Texas, with Waylon and Willie and the boys ... this successful life we're livin's got us feudin' like the Hatfields and McCoys ...*
.Streets of Laredo - * ... as I walked out in the streets of Laredo ... as I walked out in Laredo one day ... I spied a young cowboy dressed up in white linen ... dressed up in white linen as cold as the clay ... be ... beat the drum slo-o-owly, lay the sod o'er me ... play the fife lowly ... I know I done wrong ...*
.Home with the Armadillo (London Homesick Blues) - * ... I wanna go home with the armadillo ... to good country music from Amarillo and Abilene ... to the friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen ...*
.Bob Wills is Still the King - * ... you can see the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee ... it's the home of country music, on that we all agree ... but when you cross that ole Red River, hoss, that just don't mean a thing ... 'cause once you're down in Texas ... Bob Wills is still the King ...*
.Cotton-Eyed Joe - only words you need to know after you lead right, scoot, scoot, scoot, then lead left, scoot, scoot, scoot are *bull* and *chit!* scoot scoot scoot ...
.Houston - * ... Houuuuston ... Houston means that I'm one day closer to you ...*
.Goin' Back to Houston - * ...Houston, Houston, Houston ... well it's lonesome in this old town, everybody puts me down ... just a face without a name, walking in the rain ... goin' back to Houston ...*
.Galveston - * ... Galveston, oh Galveston ... I can hear your voices calling ...*
.Opening TV theme from "Dallas" - it has words, but I don't know what they are - you can hum a few bars to yourself!
.Big D - * ... why, I'm from Big D, my oh yes ... Big D, little a, double-l, a, s ...
.Here I Am in Dallas - * .. honey, where in the hell are you? ...*
.Does Foat Wuth Ever Cross Your Mind? - * ... you're in someone else's arms in Dallas ... does Fort Worth ever cross your mind? ...*
.Abilene - *Aaabi..lene...Abilene...prettiest town I've ever seen ... people there don't treat you mean ... in Abilene, my Abilene ...*
.Mockingbird Hill - * .. tweedle-aye, tweedle-dee-dum, it gives me a thrill ... to wake up in the morning to the mockingbird's trill ...*
.Across the Alley from the Alamo - * ... lived a pinto pony and a Navajo ...*
.T for Texas (Blue Yodel #1) - * .. well, T is for Texas, T's for Tennessee ... and T is for Thelma, the gal that made a wreck outta me ... I'm going where the water tastes like cherry wine ... yeah, I'm going where the water tastes like cherry wine ... 'cause the water down here in Georgia tastes like turpentine ... *
.Let's Go to Garner State Park - * ... let's go to Garner State Park ...* (lol - y'all don't know that one?)
.Do the Tighten Up . * ... we're Archie Bell and the Drells, from Houston, Texas ... learned how to dance before we could walk ...*
.Don't Ask Me Why [I'm Going To Texas] - * ... from Austin up to Dallas, Amarillo to El Paso ... you can hear Bob Wills, Bill Mack, and me, on your radio ...* [Asleep at the Wheel]
.Boogie Back to Texas - * ... gonna boogie back to Texas 'cross the US of A ... boogie back to Texas ... eight beats to the mile ...*
.Cowboy Lovin' Night - * ... they're tuning those twin Texas fiddles ... it's been so long since Dallas ... Faded Love is playing ... shuffle with me, Houston stranger ... it's a cowboy-lovin' night!*
.Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone? - * ... or Tucson, Arizona ... anyplace is all right as long as I .. can forget I've ever know her ...*
.San Antonio Stroll - * ... there ain't a thing in this world to make you fall in love, girl ... like that old San Antonio Stroll ...*
.El Paso - * ... out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl ... nighttime would find me in Rosa's cantina ... music would play and Felina would whirl ...*
.Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas - * ... I'm a ding-dong daddy from Dumas, you oughta see me do my stuff ...*
.China Grove - * ... oh, oh ... China Grove ...*
.Long Tall Texan - * ... Well, I'm a long, tall Texan ... I enforce justice by the law ... (he rides from Texas to enforce the law) ... people look at me and say, 'oh Roy, oh Roy, is you the law'? ...*
.LaGrange - * ... haw haw haw haw ...*
.At the Crossroads - * ... You can teach me lots of lessons ... you can bring me lots of gold ... but you just can't live in Texas if you don't have a lotta soul ...*
.Pecos Promenade - * ... when God made them west Texas cowboys, he gave the Pecos Promenade ... lead off with the Cotton-Eyed Joe, buck and wing, heel and toe ... hold me close for the Pecos Promenade ...*
.If You're Gonna Play in Texas - * ... you gotta have a fiddle in the band ...*
.Texas Has a Whorehouse in it - * ... Lord have mercy on our souls! ... Texas has a whorehouse in it ... Lord have mercy on our souls! ...* (Melvin P. Thorpe, WatchDog, and the Doggettes)

.OooooOh!Klahoma! - * ... where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain ...*
.You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma - * ... Santa Monica Freeway sometimes makes a country girl bluuuue ... you're the reason God made Oklahoma .... you're the reason God made Oklahoma ... and I'm sure missin' you ...*
.Oklahoma Hills - * .. way down yonder on the Indian Nation, ride my pony on the reservation ... in the Oklahoma Hills where I was born ... now as I turn life a page from the land of the great Osage ...*
.Take Me Back to Tulsa - * ... I'm too young to marry ... take me back to Tulsa, I'm too young to marry ... take me back to Tulsa ... I'm .. too .. young .. to .. wed thee!*
.Livin' on Tulsa Time - * ... livin' on Tulsa time ... gonna set my watch back to it, cuz you know that I've been through it ... livin' on Tulsa time.*
.Okie from Muskogee - * ... a place where even squares can have a ball ... we still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse ... and white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all ... in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA ... (boomer sooner, boomer sooner) ... in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USAAA!* (And, of course, the rebuttal ... *Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother* ... which also ends "in Muskogee, Oklahoma, USAAAA!")
.I've Never Been to Spain - * ... Well I've never been to Spain ... but I've been to Oklahoma ... they tell me I was born there ... but I really don't remember ... in Oklahoma, not Arizona ... what does it matter .. what does it matter? ...*

[stand watie]

fwiw, i'd bet i've danced a thousand miles to SA Rose!

free dixie,sw

[cowboyway]

Murder on Music Row
(Larry Cordle/Larry Shell)

Nobody saw him runnin' from sixteenth avenue
They never found a fingerprint or the weapon that was used
But someone killed country music. Cut out its heart and soul
They got away with murder down on music row

The almighty dollar and the lust for world-wide fame
Slowly killed tradition and for that someone should hang
They all say not guilty but the evidence will show
That murder was committed down on music row

For the steel guitars no longer cry
And fiddles barely play
But drums and rock & roll guitars
Are mixed up in your face
Ol' Hank wouldn't have a chance
On today's radio
Since they committed murder down on music row

They thought no one would miss it once it was dead and gone
They said no one would buy them old drinkin' and cheatin' songs
Well there ain't no justice in it and the hard facts are cold
Murder's been committed down on music row

For the steel guitars no longer cry
And you can't hear fiddles play
With drums and rock & roll guitars
Mixed right up in your face
The Hag wouldn't have a chance
On today's radio
Since they've committed murder down on music row


Tag: Why they'd even tell the Possum
To pack up and go back home
There's been an awful murder down on music row

[Colonel Kangaroo]

From what I've seen on this thread, it appears that a good way to start a "southern song" is to use the word "ain't" a lot and sound like you ain't very educated.

[Sam's Army]

33. "Seminole Wind" -- John Anderson (1992). A heartfelt paean to the damaged Florida wetlands by one of the countriest of country artists.

This song is about damaged wetlands??

[stainlessbanner]

Great list - The Andy Griffith song is called "Fishin' Hole" (well now take down your fishin' pole, and meet me at the fishin' hole)

Would also add Dwigh Yokam's "I Sang Dixie" and Rhett Akins "Friday Night in Dixie"

[stainlessbanner]

Anderson is an old Apopka boy. Seminole Wind is one of the finest songs ever made, you can almost feel the sadness. Remember the lines about draining the Everglades in the name of progress?

Here's the video: Seminole Wind [YouTube]