Southern Living
I've lived in the Southern USAfor years now. I often see some Southerners trying to celebrate their history, but run against the wall of the terrible things done here. (It seems the Germans have less trouble reconciling their present with the Mid-1900s. I guess that's the advantage of having hundreds of years of history.)
Listening to a lot of Neil Young lately helped me remember the Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd "feud." Young fired the first salvo:
Better keep your head
Don't forget
what your good book said
Southern change
gonna come at last
Now your crosses
are burning fast
Southern man- Southern Man
Lynyrd Skynyrd replied:
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
Now, there really wasn't a feud. And Skynyrd fans claim Sweet Home Alabama isn't as racist or politically inept as it sounds.
I'm not buying it. The 60s are still relevant here. Mentioning how "in Birmingham people love the Governor" (Segregationist George Wallace) and claiming "Watergate does not bother me" is not being ironic. Especially by the idiots in Alabama who make it the unofficial state song.
When I think of "southern music" I prefer how Warren Zevon parodied the racist and redneck South with Play it All Night Long
Grandpa pissed his pants again
He don't give a damn
Brother Billy has both guns drawn
He ain't been right since Vietnam"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night longDaddy's doing Sister Sally
Grandma's dying of cancer now
The cattle all have brucellosis
We'll get through somehow"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night longI'm going down to the Dew Drop Inn
See if I can drink enough
There ain't much to country living
Sweat, piss, jizz and blood"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
