# Sweet Home Alabama: what key is it in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 7, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752 "2023-09-07T22:48:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/41 "2023-09-09T11:06:14Z")
Since we’re discussing other songs, can someone else listen to Life of Illusion by Joe Walsh and confirm my suspicion that it’s in D, even though it spends most of its time in G? And, you’re welcome for the excuse to listen to that great song. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/42 "2023-09-09T11:29:42Z")
This might be right. Another tutorial video has it in E with all the strings tuned down (so D). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Am5IhGzNq0g/maxresdefault.jpg "Learn to play A Life Of Illusion by Joe Walsh of Eagles guitar song lesson") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am5IhGzNq0g) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/43 "2023-09-09T11:38:53Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/44 "2023-09-09T14:34:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > At any rate, that’s a pretty cool three-chord loop. “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac does that too. The verses pass through the tonic with a third in the bass (in the Chicks’ version it’s G-D/F#-Em-D/F#) several times before the song is firmly established in D on the choruses. Steve’s version is in a different key but I can’t remember what off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/45 "2023-09-09T14:37:59Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Since we’re discussing other songs, can someone else listen to Life of Illusion by Joe Walsh and confirm my suspicion that it’s in D, even though it spends most of its time in G? If memory serves, the whole intro riff is quite clearly in D, and it doesn’t go to G until it gets to the verse. I’ve never heard that song in anything but D. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/46 "2023-09-09T14:47:03Z")
This guy does a pretty good job of explaining the dual nature of the key of Sweet Home Alabama. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DVPq_-oJV5U/maxresdefault.jpg "What key is Sweet Home Alabama in?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVPq_-oJV5U) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/47 "2023-09-09T15:55:00Z")
There is a cute song database here: [Songs With The Same Chords](https://www.hooktheory.com/trends) For example, since someone asked about songs that leave out the tonic, I went there and— I don’t remember what particular chord progression I put in (something heavy on the V), but there were many results like “Digital Love” by Daft Punk. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/48 "2023-09-09T16:39:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I get the impression that the oldest stuff tends to use the fewest flats and sharps. Isn’t that the right way to write music all the time? To facilitate reading the score? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/49 "2023-09-09T17:06:59Z")
Heh, I’m with Adam Neely. It’s in both D and G at the same time. If I were playing rhythm, we’re just going through the end of a 12 bar blues in G over and over again, the guitar lead is in G as well. The vocal is basically in D. If you think of it that way, it seems like it is pretty simple to remember how it goes and improvise a little on it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/50 "2023-09-09T18:51:42Z")
The idea of playing a solo in a different key to that of the song is not so insane. For example, it was part of Charles Ives’s training: > …he would occasionally have us sing, for instance, a tune like _The Swanee River_ in the key of Eb, but play the accompaniment in the key of C. This was to stretch our ears and strengthen our musical minds, so that they could learn to use and translate things that might be used and translated (in the art of music) more than they had been. I may have heard similar a similar story re. Schoenberg or someone else. Maybe popular music needs _more_ creative polytonality to keep from getting too boring. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752/51 "2023-09-09T21:21:03Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I went there and— I don’t remember what particular chord progression I put in (something heavy on the V), but there were many results like “Digital Love” by Daft Punk. “So You Wanna Be a Rock’n’Roll Star” also comes to mind. The song briefly comes to the tonic once in a while (D) but spends most of its time on the IV-V progression. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-home-alabama-what-key-is-it-in/989752.md?page=2)