At the time, it was probably a breath of fresh air compared to songs like “Operator”….”WOLD”…….”Taxi”
Which I all love but they’re pretty depressing ….another uplifting adulterous song would be “Take a Letter Maria”
“Take a mug of diarrhea, and send it to my wife…”
Just discovered that’s not Tony Orlando
R.B. Greaves, my friend – he also did, “Always Something There To Remind Me.”
I would say that I like about a third of the songs mentioned in this thread. Probably also a third I do not care for, and a third that deserve their reputation.
So, roughly paraphrasing…
“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
I wouldn’t have put it that way. Partly because I lack the wit. Partly because even the third I like I don’t want to hear much more often. I will admit to liking Two Princes and Shiny Happy People but don’t think these songs are in the same league as many of the others.
If the song was intended to have a message opposing racists, the lyrics are still terrible because the non-racist (or anti-racist) message is utterly incoherent and badly written.
It’s a song I love listening to and has an awesome riff but people need to be reasonable and critical about the lyrics.
Do you think it’s possible that some songs don’t overtly take a position about racism? Is that okay?
Sage advice. See above.
Of course, but the “In Birmingham” is actually about AL’s racist governor Goerge Wallace and is either a pretty straightforward line supporting him or an incomprehensibly badly written line opposing him.
Maximum listener appeal!
About a billion other people did that song, too.
If we’re being “reasonable and critical” about the lyrics, shouldn’t we consider that there may be a more shaded nuance to the meaning than “I hate racism” or “I like racism”, especially considering that this one phrase is merely six words out of a larger work?
Do you automatically consider all literature or songwriting to be badly written if its meaning isn’t immediately obvious to you? I take it as a sign that I need to dig a little deeper. Sometimes there’s nothing there, but often I’m rewarded with a layer of meaning that I overlooked.
The line is “In Birmingham they love the governor. Boo boo boo.” If we’re supposed to interpret the boo’s as expressing disapproval the message is literally “I don’t like this racist guy”. It’s not a subtle message it’s just delivered poorly (if that is the intended message).
You keep repeating the same errors as everyone else does. Folks need to understand:
- The song has more than one line. This line is not the message, it is a fragment of a message.
- The song alludes to current events related to racism, but that doesn’t mean the song is about racism.
- Not every rock song needs to be a sermon. It’s a sentiment with a hook.
And the overarching sentiment, I would argue, is: “I like Alabama, and yes, as Neil Young alluded, some negative things have happened here, as they do everywhere, but if you don’t blame me for things I didn’t do and don’t agree with, then I won’t blame you for things you didn’t do and don’t agree with. Having established these ground rules, let’s go back to talking about the nice parts of Alabama.”
Maybe that’s a dumb thing to write a whole-ass song about, but many rock songs have been written about far dumber things. Myself, as a southern person who is very critical of the south and its past (and present) flaws, I similarly identify with the annoyance at being lumped in with shitty southerners, and being expected to apologize for them. I mean, look at South Dakota, Wisconsin, Ohio, and similar places. They are regressing in terms of racial equality and equity. Georgia just flipped blue, and people want to use us as a punching bag? Come on.
I can’t shake this feeling that people want any artist that brushes up against racism to explicitly stage-whisper “and by the way, kids, racism is bad, so don’t do it, okay?” That seems unfair. Art is best when it trusts its audience.
The first time I watched that video I had a really good belly laugh at the “we we we we so excited” part and also at the “Sunday comes afterwards” line and I rarely laugh at audio-visual stimuli anymore.
Express yourself as to “We Built This City”: Polls only: No discussion - #908 by Elendil_s_Heir
I caught myself humming this this morning. There must be something wrong with me.
My parents were always playing that stuff on the hi-fi when I was a small kid, like say 6 or so y/o.
I remember that particular song well: heard it a lot. To my ears though, it was “The sky’s in love with you”;
Instant rage. There is not a damn thing wrong with that song!!