Music for Roctober - #11 - Lynyrd Skynyrd
It starts like this: There is the distinct sound of a microphone in a "live" room as a man counts off "1 2 3" and then the silent 4-count. (that is guitarist, Ed King counting) Next comes the opening Fender Stratocaster guitar plucks and then singer Ronnie Van Zant telling the the engineer to turn up the volume in his headphones: "Turn it up". A masterpiece of southern rock and roll has begun and we need to hear the studio version as part of any appreciation:
"Sweet Home Alabama" is a distinctly American song. Written as an answer to Neil Young's slight of the State of Alabama in the form of "Southern Man" and "Alabama", Ronnie Van Zant explained that Skynyrd thought Young's slams on Alabama for racism and slavery were "shooting all the ducks to kill one or two." While the song reached #8 on the U.S. Charts it never broke the U.K. Charts further supporting its uniquely American appeal.
Allmusic explains the background of the song:
"It never was intended to be such a sweeping song. Instead, it began as a salute to Muscle Shoals, the celebrated R&B/soul studio where such stars as Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter, and Wilson Pickett recorded their hits; the third verse remains a salute to the studio's house band, the Swampers. But, the group worked in a response to Neil Young, who attacked the South with 'Southern Man' on his After the Gold Rush album. Young was writing about segregation and the civil rights struggle, but the group took it as an attack on the state, not the policies, and they wrote a defiant verse: 'Hope Neil Young will remember/Southern man don't need him around anyhow.' With typical perversity, Young loved the song, and gave Skynyrd a couple of songs to record."
So here you go. From 1974, written by Ed King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant, "Sweet Home Alabama" Turn it Up:
"Sweet Home Alabama" is a distinctly American song. Written as an answer to Neil Young's slight of the State of Alabama in the form of "Southern Man" and "Alabama", Ronnie Van Zant explained that Skynyrd thought Young's slams on Alabama for racism and slavery were "shooting all the ducks to kill one or two." While the song reached #8 on the U.S. Charts it never broke the U.K. Charts further supporting its uniquely American appeal.
Allmusic explains the background of the song:
"It never was intended to be such a sweeping song. Instead, it began as a salute to Muscle Shoals, the celebrated R&B/soul studio where such stars as Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter, and Wilson Pickett recorded their hits; the third verse remains a salute to the studio's house band, the Swampers. But, the group worked in a response to Neil Young, who attacked the South with 'Southern Man' on his After the Gold Rush album. Young was writing about segregation and the civil rights struggle, but the group took it as an attack on the state, not the policies, and they wrote a defiant verse: 'Hope Neil Young will remember/Southern man don't need him around anyhow.' With typical perversity, Young loved the song, and gave Skynyrd a couple of songs to record."
So here you go. From 1974, written by Ed King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant, "Sweet Home Alabama" Turn it Up:
"Walk On."
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