Lynyryd Skynyrd (pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd--get it?) formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. Skynyrd paid their dues for eight years, performing throughout Florida and later the rest of the south before being "discovered" by Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat, and Tears fame in 1972. They released their debut album in 1973, which sold a million copies, and the band worked as the opening act for The Who on their Quadrophenia tour further increasing their profile. The band had another hit and a couple of albums that were disappointments before releasing what would be their last album in their original form--which ended up being one of their bigger hits, unfortunately much of the success due to tragedy: a plane crash in 1977 killed lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines. Several other members of the band and its crew suffered severe injuries in the accident, as well. The band called it quits for ten years before reuniting with Ronnie's brother, Johnny, on lead vocals. They're currently completing their final tour (albeit with one, count 'em one original member left--sadly most of the rest of those not killed in the plane crash have passed as well), and are supposedly releasing their last album sometime this year. For their career, Skynyrd has released fourteen studio albums, 24 compilation albums (we have a new Friday Night Jukebox record!), and 12 live albums (also an FNJ record). The band has sold 28 million records here in the U.S., been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and regularly shows on on all-time lists both as a band and for their various works.
Fun Fact: Lynyrd Skynyrd was named for a high school gym teacher (Leonard Skinner) several band members were students of who was something of a hard ass when it came to young men with long hair. Over time, Mr. Skinner embraced the band, and they him, even introducing the band at one of their concerts in Florida.
Fun Fact #2: When you check out the comments for "Sweet Home Alabama" on its YouTube viewer, 99% of the comments are incest jokes. I mean, I get it, but 99%? Sheesh, give it a rest.
"Sweet Home Alabama" was the first single from their second album, Second Helping, released in 1974. The song would reach #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album hit #12 the Billboard 200. The song also was ranked #398 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.
Welp...this week's ain't easy. There seems to be all kinds of debate on whether or not the song is a celebration of racist former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, or a condemnation. Songwriter Ronnie Van Zant claimed he was not a fan of Wallace, but music writer Ed King said he thought it was a tribute to Wallace. The song was originally written as an answer to Neil Young's "Southern Man" which condemned the south's racism--and ended up being a tribute to one of the nation's most racist states. And to top it off, none of the song's writers were even from Alabama. In the end, it's an imperfect song about one's home, enlivened with three guitars worth of strumming, some jaunty piano, and Van Zant's stellar vocals. While I'm not a fan of all the song's themes, I'm also not a fan of all the themes in Nabokov's Lolita--but it doesn't mean either isn't a remarkable piece of art. Which is a fancy way of saying, yup, I can shake my fanny to it and that's enough for me.
Lyric Sheet: "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..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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