Skynard.....The song is racist and rednecks love it...."In Birmingham they loved the Governor.." They're talkin' about George Wallace and his stance against letting "colored" kids into the all-white schools.

PAPAROBBIE said:

it's just a crap song. you'll live.

GrayKing said:

I know I'll live...But I HATE that damned song.

PAPAROBBIE said:

Actually that line, like most of the song, is sarcasm. The song's genesis actually came about as a tribute to a legendary R&B studio (the name escapes me at the moment) in the south where a lot of great hits were recorded. Dig deeper before you come to a conclusion like that. I'm no fan of the song either, but I don't think it's bigoted rhetoric.
[Edited 2/13/05 18:38pm]

RipHer2Shreds said:

I know and the line where they talk about the governor they say "boo boo boo", as in yes we know he was a dirt bag.

RipHer2Shreds said:

Muscle Shoals' Fame Studio, as I am reminded by: http://www.npr.org/templa...Id=1437161

The song was also a reaction to Neil Young's Southern Man. I can see why some would consider the song emblematic of southern racism, however.
[Edited 2/13/05 18:52pm]

Stax said:

That's the one! Thank you

They were replying to Neil Young...Young sang about the racist South & they (Skynard) had a problem with it..."Sweet Home Alabama" wasn't sarcasm...It was Good Ole Boy Rhetoric...

This song is a guilty pleasure I never took the lyrics to heart. I found this quote:

Although the song is perceived as an anthem of southern pride, “Sweet Home Alabama,” was actually intended not only as the band’s fond recollection of their first time in a recording studio but as a reminder to the rest of America that not all southerners were rednecks. When Skynyrd criticized Neil Young’s “Southern Man,” it was for the sweeping generalization of all southerners as rednecks. Don’t condemn southerners now for what their ancestors did. “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two,” Van Zant said. “We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong.” In fact, the band was quite outspoken about their disdain for Wallace’s policies.

However, I get all conflicted over the confederate flag imagery the band uses.

PAPAROBBIE said:

Dead on.

Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the Southland
I miss Alabamy once again
And I think its a sin, yes

Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Here I come Alabama

Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue
Now how about you?

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

Sweet home Alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the governor's true
Sweet Home Alabama
Lordy
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Yeah, yeah Montgomery's got the answer

If Sweet Home Alabama is a respone to Southern Man, than the song is even worse.
[Edited 2/13/05 19:26pm]

lilgish said:

It is....Neil Young and Skynard had a bit of a nasty rivalry...

UptownDeb said:

One or two? That's a laugh. Neil Young was right on. Where were all the 'good' white Southerners when black folks were being attacked with fire hoses and police dogs?

I've never liked the song so I've never listened to it closely enough to pay attention to the lyrics.

Skynyrd rules.Too bad 3/5 have been dead for 15 plus-years.The song ain't racist.....just WAY OVERPLAYED.

13inchshoe said:

I never saw the song as racist.

It's alright, just overplayed.

Sometimes Sweet Home Alabama is cool but Freebird.....FUCK I hate that song. I cant' really even understand WHY it's so popular. It's not really all that great of a song.

I've always liked this song,but in recent years,I heard people insist that the lyrics are racist.I don't know what to believe

I've always dug "Freebird", but I never liked the band and even more, I always disliked this song. As a kid, I used to hear "Sweet Home" and disliked the music. Then some of my older friends (older teenagers who just happened to be white) told me that they didn't like the song because of the racist lyrics. As I got older, and became hip to MANY other things, yeah, without a doubt the lyrics has strong racist overtones. The main lyric that gives this away is "Does your conscience bother you? Now, tell the truth." Does your (white Southerners) conscience (knowing all of the injustice and hangings of blacks in the South) bother you? Tell the truth? (You know yours doesn't) In a nutshell, that lyric alone sums up that whole song.

DavidEye said:

yeah...I keep hearing the same thing. I just say don't play it cuz it sucks...period....

DavidEye said:

Taken in conjunction as a response to Neil Young's "Southern Man" it's easy to see that Skynard's acquiesce to Neil's southern man is a "so what?" type of racism.

Rhondab said:

I always thought Lynyrd Skynard was a fake ass version of The Allman Brothers Band. As far as Southern rock groups, Allman Brothers were the best, IMO.

I'm guilty here but I liked the guitar parts in the song when I was younger. However, I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics since I could never understand what they were saying. Fuck the band (thanks to whoever listed the lyrics) and thanks for giving me a better picture of how unabashedly prejudiced these guys are/were.

There is nothing remotely "racist" about this song.

Bigots come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and exist in all parts of the world.

Check your own prejudices and ask yourself if it just might be that you're buying into stereotypes yourself.

It might shock some of you to know that here in Alabama we now have indoor plumbing, motor cars, and, from what I hear we're gettin' electricity pretty soon.

I can't wait -- when we get cable, I'll be able to watch me some wrasslin'.

And you can't tell me that no one finds it ironic that someone with a Public Enemy avatar would start a thread criticising bigotry in music...

Tell the truth.

JulesWindu said:

THE TRUTH is the song celebrates an attitude that was RACIST and as backwoods as one could get...Gov. Wallace was a bigot & a jackass of the highest order...When the song asks "does your conscience bother you?" They're saying that they didn't lose any sleep over the way things were...FUCK them, the song and anyone that has a problem with my avatar...Don't use that pathetic "cookie Jar" logic..."There are bigots of all colors..." BULLSHIT...It doesn't matter...The song celebrates racism and that God-forsaken Confederate flag they always fly doesn't help...Name one Public Enemy song that's racist.

PAPAROBBIE said:

I'm really just playing devil's advocate here, because PE is one of my favorites. But surely you remember the controversy over Welcome to the Terrordome? The lyrics that got them in trouble:

Crucifixion ain't no fiction
So called chosen frozen
Apology made to who ever pleases
Still they got me like Jesus

The Fear of a Black Planet album as a whole is a genius work of art. It remains one of my favorite albums to this day. I'm not here to accuse either one of these acts of being bigoted; I've had mixed feelings about the lyrical content of both songs. But, in my honest opinion, what I think it does show you is that these songs - like many - are open to interpretation.

Supernova said:

Yeah,it seems that way,huh? Too bad.I used to like this song,but after really inspecting the lyrics,I don't think I can listen to it anymore

btw,wasn't Ruben singing this song on "American Idol"?