You might have thought the little homage to Southern Rock was nice. I like Southern Rock myself. I like the Allman Brothers and the Outlaws and Molly Hatchet. I also like ZZ Top and the Eagles and especially Stevie Ray Vaughn.
On the whole I think that Lynyrd Skynyrd was a great band too. They have some great songs. Simple Man, Saturday Night Special, and Needle and Spoon are wonderful examples.
Sweet Home Alabama is not one of them, however. We all know the lyrics word for word, of course. But tonight they really took on the significance of their original intent, and it was offensive:
Sweet Home Alabama
Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the southland
I miss alabamy once again
And I think it's a sin, yes
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
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
In birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Here I come alabama
Now muscle shoals has got the swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue
Now how about you?
Sweet home alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Sweet home alabama
Oh sweet home baby
Where the skies are so blue
And the governor's true
Sweet home alabama
Lordy
Lord, I'm coming home to you
Yea, yea montgomery's got the answer
The Neil Young reference is due to his song Southern Man, which is a historical statement about the hypocrisy of slavery in the land of Jesus. The lyrics of Sweet Home Alabama do not only contain an attack on Young personally (and the counterculture he represents), but a direct rejection of Southern Man's basic premise, that slavery was shameful and immoral.
Southern Man
Southern man 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
I saw cotton and I saw black
Tall white mansions and little shacks.
Southern man when will you pay them back?
I heard screamin' and bullwhips cracking
How long? how long?
Southern man 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
Lily belle, your hair is golden brown
I've seen your black man comin' round
Swear by God I'm gonna cut him down!
I heard screamin' and bullwhips cracking
How long? how long?
Sweet Home Alabama's rejection of Southern Man's premise isn't in the lines about Young, but in the reference to the segregationist George Wallace and the Watergate scandal:
Watergate does not bother me/Does your conscience bother you/Tell the Truth
Watergate can easily be equated to the beliefs of George Wallace to the perceived malicious prosecution of slave masters.
The translation to the 2005 Grammy Awards should be clear to all. The problems of the late sixties are no longer relevant so shut up about them already. The idea is that we can enjoy a rendition of Georgia on My Mind and a rendition of Sweet Home Alabama without making political distinction. As we can see by all the black multimillionaires that racism must be long dead in this country; in essence, the sentiments contained in Sweet Home Alabama are as far removed from the Southern attitude as Ray Charles is from the state of Georgia.
But no matter how the director tried to spin it on camera, there was a distinct pleasure taken in the dissing of Neil Young on the stage tonight. A red-state man don't need liberals around any how. He needs tax cuts and a Republican in the White House.
If Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved insist on straining the political meaning out of every piece of popular art that emerges from the entertainment industry, then they will certainly have a lot to talk about tomorrow. I have a funny feeling, however that their focus will be not on the lyrics for Sweet Home Alabama, but rather about the song American Idiot by the San Francisco band Green Day:
American Idiot
Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation that under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.
Well maybe I'm the faggot America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along in the age of paranoia.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.
Don't wanna be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information nation of hysteria.
It's going out to idiot America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
Convincing them to walk you.