before I actually listened to the words.
What did Neil Young say about Alabama that pissed Lynyrd Skynyrd off so much?
And what do they mean by “In Birmingham we all loved the governer and did what we had to do”? and “Watergate does not bother me-- how 'bout you?”
I can think of a few things they meant and almost all of them ain’t good.
DUH! They’re talking about “Souther Man.”
*Southern man
Better ease your hand
Don’t forget what your
Good book said
Southern changes are come at last
Now your crosses are burnin’ fast
*
C’mon, M. Where you been?
Here’s an article from USA today about Lynyrd Skynyrd, which covers the Skynyrd/Young “feud,” and also addresses the “love the governor” line. From the article:
Lynyrd Skynyrd meant “Sweet Home Alabama” to be a joke. They weren’t mad at Young, but were just referring to the song and respected Young as a musician. There were even vague plans in the works for Young to join them onstage to sing “Sweet Home Alabama,” but the plane crash put an end to it.
Sweet Home Alabama is a response to Neil Young’s 1971 song Southern Man.
The lyrics are actually “In Birmingham they love the governor (“Boo, boo, boo!”)/Now we all did what we could do
/And Watergate does not bother me/Does your conscience bother you?”
George Wallace (‘the Governor’) is an interesting figure, but is most famous for trying to physically block black students from entering the the University of Alabama after the Supreme Court ruled the University could not legally ban them. I see spoke- already mentioned “booing.” The song is about Southern pride, but the line about Wallace is tongue-in-cheeck.
The Watergate bit is kind of a dig at ‘Northerners.’ In itself, that’s kind of funny because Neil Young is Canadian. But anyway, the idea is that, as Southerners, the Skynyrd guys wouldn’t be embarrassed by the scandal (I guess that’s because Nixon wasn’t from the South, and that part of the country didn’t feel very represented in politics at the time).
I take the Watergate line to mean, “Hey, sometimes our elected leaders do stupid things. Not every US citizen should be held accountable for what Nixon did, and similarly, not every Alabama citizen should be held accountable for what Wallace did.”
More or less.
In other words, do you feel guilty for what Nixon did? Then why are you trying to make me feel guilty for what Wallace did? (Or Bull Connor?) Hey, “we all did what we could do,” meaning we do what we can as individuals to make things better.
At least that’s the way I take it.
I should also point out that Skynyrd was actually pretty lefty in its politics. They had songs abount environmental awareness and gun control, e.g. And it’s tough to hear the song “Curtis Loew” and still imagine Skynyrd to be a racist group.
There is that perception of them, though, and I think that’s what’s keeping them out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Am I the only one who thinks it’s also in response to Neil Young’s Alabama from the Harvest album?
Wow, I gotta admit I completly misintrepreted this song. Thanks for the info folks.