Sweet Home Alabama

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Sweet Home Alabama is a song of the American Southern rock - band Lynyrd Skynyrd . It was released on the 1974 album Second Helping and reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 .

The song was written by Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarists Gary Rossington (song idea) and Ed King (intro) and singer Ronnie Van Zant (lyrics) before 1974 , but was only released on their second album Second Helping . It is a response to the songs Southern Man (1970) and Alabama (1972) by Neil Young , who spoke in his songs about slavery and the racial segregation problem in the southern states . Lynyrd Skynyrd wanted other aspects of the southern states to be sung about and protested against the one-sided representation of Young. None of the authors were from Alabama.

song lyrics

Alabama and Neil Young

The first verse and chorus are about the singer's anticipation as he makes his way back to Alabama and relatives; the second stanza refers specifically to Neil Young ("I hope Neil Young will remember / A Southern Man don't need him around anyhow"; "I hope Neil Young will remember that a southerner doesn't need him here") .

Still, Young and the band members of Lynyrd Skynyrd were not enemies. Young played Sweet Home Alabama a number of times at his concerts, and Van Zant regularly wore a black Tonight's the Night T-shirt during performances where he sang Sweet Home Alabama .

References to political issues

The third stanza alludes to the Governor of Alabama (at the time George Wallace , one of the strongest advocates of racial segregation), to the violent racial conflict in Birmingham, where blacks fell victim to the terrorist bombing of the Ku Klux Klan, and to the Watergate Affair .

"In Birmingham they love the governor, boo, boo, boo
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you? "
("In Birmingham they love the governor, boo, boo, boo / well, we've all done what we can / well, I don't care about Watergate / do you care about your conscience?")

Towards the end of the song, the chorus says that the governor [of Alabama] is always right:

“Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue ... And the governor's true
... "
("Sweet home Alabama / Where the sky is so blue ... and the governor is right / ...")

The message of these lines was controversial. While critics took the text out of agreement with Wallace's politics, fans pointed out that after “In Birmingham they love the governor” a “boo boo boo” from the background choir follows, which expresses criticism of Wallace, as does the ironic claim at the end of the song that the governor is always right.

Several band members have assured in interviews that the song does not advocate the policy of racial segregation , and recently pointed out that the "Montgomery's got the answer" heard at the end of the song refers to the marches from Selma to Montgomery led by Martin Luther King .

Muscle Shoals

The fourth and final verse refers to the music scene in the northwestern Alabama town of Muscle Shoals . The "Swampers" named there ("Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers") were studio musicians. Some of them also recorded music under the name Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section , including Jimmy Johnson (guitar), David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums) and Barry Beckett (keyboards), who were inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame in 1995 were.

Melody and beat

Sweet Home Alabama is written in 4/4 time ; the tempo is around 100 bpm . Its key is G major . The song is built on three chords, after a bar in D major there is a bar in C major and two bars in G major.

reception

  • The musician Kid Rock explicitly refers to Sweet Home Alabama in the song All Summer Long (“[…] singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long”). Also, the melody consists of parts of the Sweet Home Alabama melody . After All Summer Long took first place in the German single charts in July 2008 , Sweet Home Alabama also entered the German charts for the first time and reached number 86.
  • The band Green Day also covered this song or used the title Sweet Home Alabama .
  • The US hardcore punk band Gang Green released a parody of the song in 1986 under the title Sold Out Alabama .

Use in film, television and computer games

  • The song was used in the film Con Air with Nicolas Cage . There the criminals who escaped in the prison plane dance to the song. The serial killer Garland Greene ( Steve Buscemi ) comments on this with the statement that this is pure irony, because the band that became known through this song (Lynyrd Skynyrd) later crashed in a plane.
  • The song is also used in the film Sweet Home Alabama - Love in a Detour with Reese Witherspoon .
  • Sweet Home Alabama is starred multiple times in Forrest Gump, starring Tom Hanks .
  • In the movie 8 Mile, Eminem raps to this song.
  • In the film Sahara Desert Adventure , the song is played on the Caliope while it casts off in Gao .
  • The song is also played in the film The Mask , with Cher and Sam Elliott .
  • In the film Despicable Me , the song is played at the beginning.
  • In the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre , the piece is played on the radio.
  • In the game Starcraft 2 from Blizzard Entertainment, the song is played in a music box during the campaign in the version of the Scottish wedding rock band Big Tuna.
  • In the fifth episode of season 17 of the TV series The Simpsons , Mama's Little Darling contains a scene in which Bart and his mother Marge sing the song together on a bike ride.
  • In the TV series Knight Rider , Sweet Home Alabama is played in the 22nd episode of the first season to accompany a long car journey. At the end of the scene, Lynyrd Skynyrd appears in a bar in Tennessee .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joe Queenan: Revenge is Sweet Home Alabama. In: theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media Limited, November 16, 2007, accessed December 23, 2017 .
  2. ↑ THE MUSCLE SHOALS RHYTHM SECTION. Alabama Music Hall of Fame, accessed December 23, 2017 .
  3. ↑ luxx.net: List of songs featured in Knight Rider