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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.
Yeah, that's a good one!
Ball of Confusion= Temptations....
A great song should inspire the heart to noble deeds orr tell an epic tale through music or lyrics and stand the test of time for all generations that follow.
Like Auld-angs Ey screwed up that spelling
Skynyrd IS an Institution.
Religious Songs do inspire the heart...
Do you prefer the Leonard Cohen or Jeff Buckley cover of Halleluyah ?
350 posts and no one mentions Motorhead. Where's the love for Lemme?
No. Jerry Lee Lewis and his insane piano playing. I listen to it when I'm driving when I need uplifted. Don't really know if Ray did it.
You can get it by doing a Google for Lime Wire.
Got the mail. Reply en route.
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Crisp tube saturation and clean playing...simple chords but hard as hell to recreate exactly ;)
Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song
...i dared a friend to call the local radio station and ask them to play the song that goes...AHH Ah Ah AHHH....they played that call in clip for a month...what a riot ;)
bump
I'll take the opening riff to "Unchained" by Van Halen.
LOL. Thats great.
I did that once with Allman Brother's 'Jessica'. If you know the song, you know it's an instrumental. I couldn't think of the name of the song but knew how it sounded so I called in and sang it to the DJ by making twangy guitar sounds.
I love Leo's guitar playing yet can not STAND to hear that Okie try to sing a song....he couldn't carry a tune in a gunnysack ! Theres another guitar player I like....Richard Gilewitz ! Awesome skill !
http://www.richardgilewitz.com/
No such thing IMHO as "one best or favorite"........a person shouldn't be made to choose !
Stay safe WD !
If it's unrequited, how can it be adultery? Besides, you'd have to throw out about 30%-40% of western art and literature if you threw out themes of inappropriate love and lust, from stories about Helen of Troy to Romeo and Juliette to The Scarlet Letter and way beyond. Musically you'd be shelving most Rock and Roll love songs and almost all of the Jazz.
Besides, "Cocaine" is clearly an anti-drug anthem.
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