Bush & Skynyrd vs. Kerry & Young
Published October 31, 2004
Is it really possible to connect the dots between Neil Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Kerry and George Bush?
Regarding the 2004 election, Greg Lewis writes in The Washington Dispatch:
"Lynyrd Skynyrd, you might recall, wrote and recorded "Sweet Home Alabama," possibly the best rock song ever, in 1974 for their "Second Helping" album. Among the political/cultural stands they took with that song came in the form of their criticism of Neil Young's portrayal of their fellow citizens in his song, "Southern Man," which painted southerners as categorically racist, illiberal, and (by extension) closed-minded.I think it's clear, however, that "Sweet Home Alabama" expresses what a majority of Americans feel in their hearts with regard to the upcoming election. Which is to say, when lead singer Ronnie Van Zandt belts out the lines, "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember / Southern man don't need him around, anyhow," he's expressing something fundamental about the American character.
I don't mean to put a quarter-century old rock song on the spot as the exemplar of what it means to be an American in the year 2004, but I do think it can be instructive to examine "Sweet Home Alabama" for what light it might shed on the current collective political consciousness of our nation. All of which translates, I'm willing to bet, into our citizenry's voting overwhelmingly to re-elect George W. Bush.
"Sweet Home Alabama" is concerned with how Americans react when people who have commandeered, as Neil Young did and as John Kerry is doing, platforms from which they can broadcast leftist points of view. Artists, commentators, pundits, politicians, and the like bleat at the American people a liberal message "from above," as if it's received truth. And when the people who listen to them and who accept their message as a significant component of the "cultural truth" in which they place a great deal of faith . . . well, when those people discover that the aforementioned messages are bogus, disingenuous, dangerous, and untruthful in the extreme, there's going to be hell to pay. One only hopes the debt is collected on election day 2004.
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- Bush & Skynyrd vs. Kerry & Young
- Published: October 31, 2004
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Music: Rock
- Writer: Thrasher
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- Thrasher's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
A very silly essay. I feel stupid for having wasted my time reading it. Lewis seems even balmier than most Right Wing nuts -- asea in conspiracy theories.
The song was actually an affirmation of the opposition to desegregation going on in the South at the time.
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
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
What answer did Montgomery have? Blowing up little girls in churches, for one. Wallace's "segregation forever," for another. It is interesting how those lyrics somehow get left out of Lewis' 'analysis.'
another part of the vast right wing conspiracy people...don't you know anything???
Gee, if it's really a "vast right wing conspiracy", I wonder why their analysis is so flawed? It just seems that if the author wanted to be taked seriously, he would have tried to spell Lynyrd Skynyrd's and Ronnie Van Zant's name correctly.
Furthermore, pursuing a line of argument which has been thoroughly debunked seems downright weird?
It's like saying the Osama video favors Bush?! Defies logic. Go figure.
"montgomery's answer" is blowing up churches?! NO WAY! That bombing was in Birmingham. The lyrics reference the selma to montgomery march. You know, the one led by Martin Luther King. This is obvious if you listen to more than the slighty confusing lyrics (to those of limited analytic talent) of Sweet Home Alabama and look at ,for instance, The Ballad of Curtis Loew, or Things Goin' On.
Or perhaps if you note the fact that VanZant grew up in Shantytown, one of the few non-segregated neighbourhoods in Jacksonville at that time.
ima right wing nut job and proud of it
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This essay and the one it references are, I believe, off base on some points:
The Thrasher site essay says:
Furthermore, Leonard Skynyrd sang "Now Watergate does not bother me". Sadly, it would seem not only were Lynard Skynard untroubled by racism but were not terribly concerned by corruption at the highest levels of the U.S. government"
I take it that Skynard lyrics are saying to Northern Critics of the South, en masse... "I'll feel guilty when you start feeling guilty about Watergate". Leonard Skynard members *were* vocal about Civil Rights, and supported Jimmy Carter! One can still have pride in their Southern culture... and it comes down to this "We all did what we could do... Watergate does not bother me. Does Your Conscience Bother YOU?"
I heard a YouTube version of the song performed by Skynard that replaced "Montgomery's got the answer" to "Carter's got the answer" - lest there be doubt.
I do think that w/ regards to the South there is alot of ambiguity and contradiction. Having said the above, I do not think this was a song endorsing racism, but the opposite, and reacting to alot of stereotyping that goes on of the South. Personally, I think the Red/Blue divisions indicate politics/culture/race have some challenges yet in 2008.
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I like Lynyrd Skynyrd but I think the song they would use to describe the current administration would more likely be "What's That Smell?", especially that line about "the smell of death surrounds you"..