Guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown. I remember when this one came out. All is well with you, I can tell.
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.
"Sorry, gotta go with "Satisfaction" on the opening guitar lick"
My favorites for greatest rock openings are:
"Surrender" - Cheap Trick
"Born to Run" - The Boss
agreed....much how I once viewed womyn.
I'm good Dennis ...thanks.
I think Kottke was the first acoustic instrumentalist we thought was cool....circa 73 or so.
Another gem. I forgot how many good songs he had.
"If you choose not to decide you still have may a choice." - Freewill
I left my home in Norfolk Virginia,
California on my mind.
Straddled that Greyhound, rode him past Raleigh,
On across Caroline.
Stopped in Charlotte and bypassed Rock Hill,
And we never was a minute late.
We was ninety miles out of Atlanta by sundown,
Rollin' 'cross the Georgia state.
We had motor trouble it turned into a struggle,
Half way 'cross Alabam,
And that 'hound broke down and left us all stranded
In downtown Birmingham.
Straight off, I bought me a through train ticket,
Ridin cross Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flyer out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans.
Somebody help me get out of Louisiana
Just help me get to Houston town.
There's people there who care a little 'bout me
And they won't let the poor boy down.
Sure as you're born, they bought me a silk suit,
Put luggage in my hands,
And I woke up high over Albuquerque
On a jet to the promised land.
Workin' on a T-bone steak a la carte
Flying over to the Golden State;
The pilot told me in thirteen minutes
We'd be headin' in the terminal gate.
Swing low sweet chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone;
Cut your engines, cool your wings,
And let me make it to the telephone.
Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia,
Tidewater four ten O nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
And the poor boy's on the line.
Can't beat the beginning of "What'd I Say", if you ask me. Obviously not a guitar, but it's excellent, and it's gotta be the long version.
"thank you."
You're very welcome.
Who is the artist? I totally forgot about that song.
TruBlu, I'm with you. The "Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East" is an unbelievable, still solid album. Imagine those guys playing like that, stoned to the bejesus belt on 'shrooms and Jack, for something like 5 hours in a place like the Fillmore East. One can feel the anguish in the guitar work in by Duane and Dickie in "Whipping Post". Listen very closely to the last solo before the final bridge- it's like they are crying or screaming, guitar-metaphorically. The live version of "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" is masterful. However, I'll defer to "Blue Sky" from "Eat a Peach" as the best slide work I've ever heard. Heart-felt, smooth, tuneful, written by Dickie Betts for his wife. A love song. I could go on, but I'll stop. Your thoughts???
Uh, you mean the "Cadillac Song"???...just kidding, but the kids these days may think that. Just like they think Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" is the "United Airlines Song"...
"Cocaine" is not a Clapton song, either. Written by JJ Cale.
"Who is the artist?"
"Honey" was performed by Bobby Goldsborough, but I don't know if he composed it also.
The way it's going it looks like the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is waiting for the last two remaining original members of Skynyrd die before the band will be admitted to the Hall of Fame....either that or they are banking on country music claiming them as their own.
You are sentenced to listening to "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" 5000 time while writing down the lyrics.
"The author may not care for it that much, but all I need is back-to-back listenings of "Freebird" on Friday afternoon at 5:00, and I'm ready for the weekend!
That will take a millstone of a week right off your back."
You prefer the studio or the live version?
I like the live version best.
"What song is it you want to hear?"
I saw an interview with Goldsboro on the old Merv Griffin show where Bobby was discussing "Autumn of my Life", the follow-up to "Honey" and equally sappy. Merv shouted out (only half-kidding), "WHAT AN AWFUL SONG!!"
Eric Clapton is an accomplished guitarist, no doubt about that.
For guitar, I'd rather listen to BB King any day.
"Your love is nothing but the blues
Baby, how blue can you get?"
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