Posted on 06/22/2024 9:46:34 AM PDT by DoodleBob
In art, as in life, some things are not always what they seem. So it is with the song that gave Lynyrd Skynyrd a US Top 30 hit in 1975.
The song in question has always been perceived as an anti-gun protest song. Actually it’s more complicated, more nuanced than that.
Saturday Night Special was a protest song with a caveat. In the words written and sung by Ronnie Van Zant, the leading figure in the band’s first great era, there was a question that went to the heart of America’s gun culture: ‘Why don’t we dump ’em, people, to the bottom of the sea?’ But the truth was that Ronnie Van Zant was no anti-gun campaigner.
On the contrary, at the time when he wrote the song he owned a .22 calibre pistol. He used it when hunting for rabbits and squirrels in the woods around the band’s home town of Jacksonville, Florida. What Ronnie was advocating in the song was greater control of illegal handguns – specifically a type of gun that was freely available on the black market in 1970s America, …a Saturday Night Special…
…
‘It was a strong message that Ronnie was conveying,” Rossington says. “Those cheap handguns were no good for hunting or anything else – they were just made to kill people. And those guns were easy to find. We came from a rough part of town, the west side of Jacksonville. There were a lot of bad people there, and every week you’d hear that somebody got shot or killed.”
…
“Every time I sing Saturday Night Special,” Johnny (Van Zant) adds, “I feel the power in those words that Ronnie wrote. There are too many guns in America. My brother knew what he was talking about.”
(Excerpt) Read more at loudersound.com ...
How the news media demonizes guns since the 1960s.
“Dum-Dum Bullets!”
1962-1968 —The evil guns were the foreign made Saturday Night Special and the 5 shot bolt action army surplus rifle. they got a ban on them in 1968.
1968-1984 it was all other American made handguns.
1980-1984 it was “Plastic Framed “ handguns that “could pass through metal detectors!
1984-1990- it was “COP KILLER BULLETS”!
1990 -1994 it was “Revolving Shotguns!(now banned)
1984 till now it suddenly became “high capacity assault rifles and magazines!
2000 it was 50 cal single shot rifles capable of downing an aircraft with ONE SHOT!
2023 Small AR-15 rifles in .22 cal to attract kids!
Now we are back to A-s-s-ault Rifles for all murders, even with handguns.
Back in 1968, Little Rock AR, I had a gun dealer tell me that his store had been broken into and only .22 revolvers stolen.
He said he knew it was blacks because “no one would sell anything to a black but .22 ammo” so he knew it was blacks. His words not mine.
That song is about shooting up heroin.
Seems like Skynard released a song and album called “Gimme Back My Bullets” after some blowback.
Much better to use an expensive stolen Kimber when committing crimes than a cheap Jennings....Is that the message?
The democrats still love killing babies. That has been their most sacred policy.
“Lots of country and Western music dealt with cheap guns.”
“. . . she was hotter than a two dollar pistol . . .” - George Jones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Gmc9ue7B0
Imagine what a wonderful world this would be if we only let people who were pop musicians write all the laws.
That was never true, that was when they began to sell that lie. And you bought it.
Miami in the cocaine cowboy days....
Are you sure you’re not thinking of “Fixing a Hole”?
I wasn’t, but looking for a reference to support my hazy recollection of the meaning I find a wiki article that’s all over the place but has a 1980 Lennon quote that he’s joking about an American Rifleman article and about sex with Yoko. 😫
So now I’m just confused 😂
And they were the only self-defense tools that poor people could afford. Accordingly, the ruling class saw an opportunity to deny some folks the ability to defend themselves ... and jumped on it. Because that's how the ruling class wants YOU: poor, defenseless, and at utterly at their mercy (of which they have none).
That was and is a racist term. The ruling class wanted folks to think that such guns were only good for "Niggertown Saturday Night".
That's a very practical purpose when a mugger is 5 feet away from you. And you're not wealthy, and a "Niggertown Saturday Night Special" is all you can afford ...
Leftists are always racial bigots of some sort.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.