Yes Headliner!!! And here is a picture of the poster that I took at Cicero's to prove it!!!
Yea, Cicero's is not the greatest venue, and the sound guy keeps the volume on "11" all the time, but the people that show up are there to here the music, and he doesn't have to worry about playing all danceable songs. The other good thing is that he will NOT have to play "Sweet Home Alabama"!!!
Seriously... This could be a good stepping stone to much bigger and better things.
If you are free on Halloween, please join us and support Steve.
See Steve's website for more info.
4 comments:
"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping.
"Sweet Home Alabama" was written partly as an answer to the songs "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young, which were critical of the South. "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. (Dupree 1974) The song takes the form of a defense and celebration of the South. The first verse and the chorus reflect the singer's desire to be back in his home state; however later verses also include ambiguous and much-discussed lyrics about governor George Wallace and the Watergate scandal. Despite (or perhaps aided by) the debate over the song, it has become one of the most popular Southern rock songs in rock music history. It reached the top ten of the US charts in 1974 and was their first hit single. [1]
The song lyrics make pointed reference to Neil Young's songs "Southern Man" (1970) and "Alabama" (1972), which pointed out the racism and hypocrisy in the South's (and specifically Alabama's) historical treatment of black people.
Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her
Well I heard ol' Neil put her down
I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern Man don't need him around anyhow
Despite the popular belief that there was feud between Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd, there is evidence that the relationship was one of mutual appreciation. Prior to the recording of Street Survivors, Young offered Ronnie Van Zant a tape containing demo versions of his then-unreleased songs "Powderfinger," "Sedan Delivery," and "Captain Kennedy" for the band to record, though ultimately it was decided that none of the songs fit on the album. On the album cover, however, Van Zant was seen wearing a Tonight's the Night T-shirt, which he frequently also wore in concert. Likewise, Crazy Horse bassist Billy Talbot is seen wearing a Skynyrd shirt in the Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert film Rust Never Sleeps.
In a 1992 interview with Nick Kent in Mojo magazine, Young was asked about the song:
Nick Kent: ...after all, Lynyrd Skynyrd put you down by name on "Sweet Home Alabama".
Neil Young: Oh, they didn't really put me down. But then again, maybe they did! (laughs) But not in a way that matters. Shit, I think "Sweet Home Alabama" is a great song. I've actually performed it live a couple of times myself.
In turn, Ronnie Van Zant said:
"We wrote Alabama as a joke. We didn't even think about it – the words just came out that way. We just laughed like hell, and said 'Ain't that funny'... We love Neil Young, we love his music..."
The issue received further airing by the Drive-By Truckers on their 2001 Southern Rock Opera album in the song "Ronnie and Neil".
[edit]
Political references
In conjunction with the defense of the South, the song contains political references which have caused controversy, particularly this verse:
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
Later on, the song says "the governor's true". The state governor at the time of writing (1974) was leading segregationist George Wallace.
Fans deny the song expresses support for Wallace's politics, interpreting the lyrics as saying that the band all did they could do to keep Wallace out of office. They argue that a jeer "Boo, boo, boo!" can be heard after the line "In Birmingham, they love the governor" and they interpret this as an attack on Wallace. In 1975, Van Zant said: "The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. The general public didn't notice the words 'Boo! Boo! Boo!' after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor" (Ballinger 2002:78). Footage of concerts where they performed the song also confirms the presence of this line. [citation needed]
Various band members have denied that the song endorses segregation, and in a recent radio interview surviving members stated the last line "Montgomery got the answer" was a reference to the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march led by Martin Luther King.
Fans argue that the band was sympathetic to African-Americans, with their 1973 song "Things Goin' On" expressing concern about life in 'the ghetto'. Van Zant later wrote the song Journey Through The Past in tribute to an African-American musician he had met growing up.
Another claim often made is that the third line of the above verse is in defense of the Watergate scandal. Again, many fans disagree, interpreting the line alternately as either a reminder to critics that the South is not alone in having scandals or as a statement that corruption in politics is nothing exceptional and that it was Americans' own guilty consciences that were truly bothering them during the crisis.
[edit]
Muscle Shoals
One verse of the song includes the line "Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers/And they've been known to pick a song or two." This refers to the Alabama town Muscle Shoals, a fashionable location in the time period for recording popular music due to the "sound" crafted by local recording studios and back-up musicians. "The Swampers" referred to in the lyrics were some of those very reliable and often nameless musicians. Sometimes recording under the identity of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, these musicians included Jimmy Johnson (guitar), Roger Hawkins (drums), David Hood (bass), and Barry Beckett (keyboards), and they were inducted into the Alabama Hall of Fame in 1995 for a "Lifework Award for Non-Performing Achievement."
[edit]
Versions
* In addition to the original appearance on Second Helping, the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd collections and live albums. The song also appeared on the famous late night talk show The Tonight Show. A few covers have appeared, notably a slowed-down rock version by Big Head Todd and the Monsters as well as more faithful versions by the Charlie Daniels Band and the country group Alabama. The song even spawned a 2004 hip hop version by Alabama-based rap group B.A.M.A.
* The Argentinian musicians Charly García and Andrés Calamaro made a version of this song with modified lyrics, called "Sweet Home Buenos Aires", that became a local classic.
* In Spain, the Galician rock group Siniestro Total (originally from Vigo) rewrote the lyrics, called the song "Miña Terra Galega" ("My Galician Homeland"), and added Galician bagpipes to the original Skynyrd arrangement. The group first recorded the song live in 1992, and have used it as a show closer since then. The song has since become a minor nationalist anthem among Galician youth.
* The neo-nazi rock band Skrewdriver has recorded a version in which the ambiguous lyrics are made overtly racist.
* The ska band The Toasters have recorded an altered version, "Sweet Home Town Jamaica", which features on their album Enemy of the System.
* The "viking rap" band Norselaw used the song as a basis for their song "Sweet Home Scandanavia", replacing lyrics to reference the Netherlands and Norse mythology.
* The rock band Zen Mafia has recorded a song "California" on their album of the same name whose chorus is identical to "Sweet Home Alabama" with the exception of the subsition of the name of their home state.
[edit]
In the media and popular culture
* "Sweet Home Alabama" has become the unofficial state song of Alabama and a favorite among University of Alabama students and alumni. Andy Phillips, the New York Yankees first baseman and a University of Alabama alumnus, has the song played prior to each at-bat.
* It remains a popular request on classic rock radio stations, and has been featured in many movies, including To Die For, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Con Air, 8 Mile, Forrest Gump, Joe Dirt, The Girl Next Door and Sahara.
* In 2002, the title of the song was borrowed for the film Sweet Home Alabama; the soundtrack to the film included the original song and a cover version by Jewel.
* In Con Air, the song plays over a scene in which Steve Buscemi's character defines irony as "a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash."
* A cover of this song was featured in the HBO movie Boycott. It was also featured in a Knight Rider episode.
* It has also served as the opening theme music to EA Sports NASCAR Thunder 2002 and also for the TOCA Race Driver. The song is usually played at least once during each of NASCAR's broadcasts of the season's two Nextel Cup races in Talladega, Alabama.
* In Spain the song was used for an ad campaign for Tecnocasa, a real estate company. The song replaced the name "Alabama" with the name of the company, resulting in "Sweet Home Tecnocasa."
* A cover of the song was used as the theme for the WWF's "Armageddon" wrestling pay-per view in December of 2000, held in Mobile, AL.
* American singer-songwriter Warren Zevon's song "Play It All Night Long" lampoons many aspects of stereotypical southern culture, including mocking reverence towards "Sweet Home Alabama". Zevon's song explicitly names "Sweet Home Alabama" and references the 1977 plane crash:
"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
* The fast-food restaurant known as Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC has used a portion of the song in television commercials, perhaps depending on the song's large popularity to attract customers while ignoring the implicit factual clash between Kentucky and Alabama.
* In May 2006, National Review ranked the song #4 on its list of "50 greatest conservative rock songs."
* In July 2006, CMT ranked it #1 of the "20 Greatest Southern Rock songs."
That's great and all, but I would rather hear Steve's originals. That's what is going to put him on the map, not singing "classic" southern rock songs. There are a lot of great cover bands out there, and I am sure they make a living at it, but, Steve has the potential to write his own "Classic". As he plays more and more at places like Cicero's, where they ask you to play originals, he will quickly realize that he can do better that just making a living.
Thanks for the comment, I hope you agree with the above statements. (and if you are who I think you are, I think you do) I hope to see you at the show if not before.
NOTE: *** It's and all ages show!!!
I added the article about sweet home alabama because I get a kick out of the "kids" who go wild for the song not having a clue what it is about. I AGREE that the originals that Steve does are his future, but playing the local bars wineries etc... lend him to do more covers for the dancers.
Post a Comment