Posted on 03/30/2005 4:35:33 AM PST by Chi-townChief
Maybe it was during the Grammy Awards, when an all-star band jammed to this song onstage, reminding us of a time when you had to play an instrument to be considered a musician. Maybe it was when I was at P.J. Clarke's on State Street on the Saturday before St. Patrick's Day, and green-clad revelers of all ages started dancing when the song came on the jukebox. I didn't see a man who danced with his wife, but I did see a girl who wasn't born when the song was released -- and she was singing along with every word, as if it had been her homecoming theme.
Maybe it was when I heard the song as the theme for a NASCAR video game.
Maybe it was when Hilary and Hailey Duff appeared at an event at the W Hotel City Center on Adams a couple of weeks ago, and the crowd went wild when DJ AM incorporated the song's famous opening riff into his mix.
Maybe it was when the song popped up during a screening of the upcoming Matthew McConaughey-Penelope Cruz movie "Sahara" -- just the latest of many, many, many films to use this tune on the soundtrack.
Maybe it was all those factors, building to a crescendo.
All I know is that somewhere along the way, it hit me.
"Sweet Home Alabama" is the greatest rock and roll song of all time.
Some Lynyrd Skynyrd purists will tell you that "Sweet Home Alabama" isn't even the greatest Skynyrd song of all time, that the honors should go to "Tuesday's Gone" or some lesser-known album cut. (But probably not the overrated "Freebird.") Still, no Lynyrd Skynyrd song, and few rock songs from any band, have cut such a wide and lasting swath through the popular culture, while somehow retaining power and freshness.
'Big wheels keep on turnin' '
When I hear the first notes of "Stairway to Heaven" or "Smoke on the Water," I lunge for the radio dial. Enough is enough. When I hear the first notes of "Sweet Home Alabama," well, I turn it up.
The opening guitar lick is one of the most recognizable and electrifying intros in the history of popular music, right up there with the first notes of "Ohio," "Layla," "Baba O'Reilly" and "Revolution."
The lead vocals are muscular and clear and unapologetic.
Everybody knows the first line: "Big wheels keep on turnin.' " Not everybody knows the second line ("Carry me home to see my kin"), but it doesn't matter, you can keep singing anyway and catch up with "And I think it's a sin, yeah."
The chorus is just about perfect. You cannot and should not resist singing along with it.
The guitar work is killer.
The chick-singer background work is heavenly.
The lyrics matter. Yes, they're a bit incendiary. The founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were from Florida, and they embraced the Confederate flag as a stage prop. "Sweet Home Alabama" was written in part as a response to Neil Young's "Southern Man," and it includes a line seemingly sympathetic to Gov. George Wallace. But Ronnie Van Zant and his bandmates in Skynyrd also recorded "The Ballad of Curtis Lowe," an important song that embraced black music and spoke of the young Van Zant's rebellion against institutional racism.
It's everywhere
Taken as a whole and in the context of the times, "Sweet Home Alabama" is not in any way a racist song. Neil Young understood that, and so did Jimmy Carter, a liberal who welcomed the band's support.
Enough with the defense. If I'm casting my vote for the song with the best message about tolerance and peace and love, I could come up with countless better selections, from "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds to "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye.
But we're talking pure rock. And as piece of pure rock, "Sweet Home Alabama" kicks ass.
It's also a pop culture touchstone, more so now than 30 years ago. "Sweet Home Alabama" has been featured in "Forrest Gump," "The Girl Next Door" and "To Die For," among other films. Of course there's also the movie "Sweet Home Alabama," with a cover version from Jewel.
In "Con Air," when the inmates take over the plane and party to the sounds of "Alabama," Steve Buscemi's Garland Greene character makes the immortal observation: "Define irony: a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash."
Then there's the scene in "8 Mile" when Eminem's B-Rabbit customizes the lyrics to reflect the sad state of his own life: "Cuz I live at home in a trailer/Mom I'm comin' home to you!"
Over the last five decades, there have been enough great rock and roll songs to make an iPod cry. Rolling Stone magazine recently listed its top 500, with Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" at the top. I could list 100 stronger contenders, from "Won't Get Fooled Again" to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" to "Hey Jude" to "November Rain" -- but none surpasses "Sweet Home Alabama."
Turn it up.
When you are number 70,091 on Amazon you have no where to go but up ...
Hotel California has no redeeming social value.
A few of these gems off the top of my head...
"Night Moves" by Bob Seger
"Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac
"Heart Of Gold" by Neil Young
"Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd
"Ring Of Fire" by Johnny Cash
"Rambling Man" by The Allman Brothers
"American Girl" by Tom Petty
All of the above are oldies but I think a "great" record needs at least a quarter century to prove its greatness.
On the other hand, there is so much from the past that is tired. For example, I'm sick of just about everything in The Beatles catalog. Ditto for the Rolling Stones except maybe "Satisfaction" and "Winter."
Maybe YOU just don't like that type of Music, I can see that, many don't you might be a country western fan or a fan of Mozart. That does not negate the fact that Rock and Roll true musicians have not produced some great music...
Yes, it does. My opinion on the matter is law. They produced alot of garbage and a few songs that may stand the test of time, none of which you have yet named.
Stairway to Heaven
Satisfaction, I want to hold your hand, Most know these songs.
Most know many Elvis Songs. I am not speaking of one hit wonders.
There are many songs....
I can't think of a single song Elvis wrote or sang that was great. I can think of a couple of amusing songs and perhaps one that is sweet.
There are many songs.... and you have yet to name one.
It's been a long day and I'm just now getting back on. If he hasn't figured it out, clue him in.
Thanks!
BTW, Happy Birthday Eric Clapton, 60 years old today.
What can compete with a song about adultery and unrequited lust ?
Perhaps a song about drug abuse like Cocaine ...
Eric Clapton is an accomplished guitarist, no doubt about that.
Because it's not your taste?
You want me to post a song that YOU like not what millions like...
Because it is not great.
You want me to post a song that YOU like not what millions like...
Please, step back slowly and put down the Go by the Indigo Girls
To your credit, you did not nominate Sugar, Sugar by the Archies either.
I will be in Utah...at once glad I am not in Houston's humidity, and sad that I can't be fishing for specs down at Galveston when that's going on...
It is not a great song but it is one of the funnier.
"You're not losing hair, you're gaining face."
Agree with many of the posters above and your list a good
one too.
Here is a group of Rock Anthems that I like to play over
and over again on my Windows Media Player:
"I Got A Line On You" Spirit
"I'm So Glad" Deep Purple
"Journey to the Center of the Mind" Ted Nugent &Amboy Dukes
"Summertime Blues" Blue Cheer
"Sky Pilot" Eric Burdon & Animals
"Whipping Post" Allman Brothers
"Immigrant Song" Led Zeppelin
"All Right Now" Free
"Layla" Derek & the Dominoes
"Walk Away" James Gang
"Mississippi Queen" Mountain
"Bang a Gong" T Rex
"Strange Kind of Woman" Deep Purple
"Won't Get Fooled Again" The Who
"Conquistador" Procul Harum
"Hocus Pocus" Focus
"Suffragette City" David Bowie
"Ride Ride Ride" Jo Jo Gunn
"La Grange" Z Z Top
"Free Bird" Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Frankenstein" Edgar Winter Group
"Dream On" Aerosmith
"Radar Love" Golden Earring
"Fool For The City" Foghat
"Cat Scratch Fever" Ted Nugent
"Robin Hood (instrumenal)" 38 Special
"Ballroom Blitz" Sweet
"Back in Black" AC DC
"Juke Box Hero" Foreigner
"Sign of the Gypsy Queen" April Wine
"You've Got Another Thing Comin'" Judas Priest
"Don't Tell Me You Love Me" Night Ranger
"Keep Your Hands To Yourself" Georgia Satellites
k..So now I know..
You like Funny SOngs..
I truly like all music it csn put me in all different types of moods
When I make Italian Food I listen to MOB MUSIC
When I make Goulash I listen to RUSSIAN BALLADS
When I want to Rock Out I listen to Chicago or Bob Seeger
When I want to kill flies I listen to RAP
Hey SamAdams76 - love that tagline. -W-
I know this is off topic but the "Conan The Barbarian" soundtrack is used by some gyms for their exercise programs. It was also used for the "Gladiator" Trailer.
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