Sweet Home Alabama - Progressive Themesong

Email Print posted by devils eye 04/26/2007 06:33:19 AM EST

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Cenk and Ben were talking about Lynard Skynard and "Sweet Home Alabama" today, and how the band used the Confederate flag a lot in their old concerts. 

 I just wanted to mention, as a lifelong Southerner (and a lifelong progressive), that Lynard Skynard poked a lot of fun at ignorant, arch-conservative Southerners.  The one line from the song:  "In Birmingham they loved the Gov'nor, We all did what we could do," tells a lot.  The Gov'nor in question was almost certainly George Wallace,former Alabama governor and the last openly racist politician on the national stage.  But to the ear trained to Southern nuance, "they loved the Gov'nor" explicitly excepts the speaker (they did, but I didn't).  And "we all did what we could do," has been pretty much the story of my political life--you talk up progressive causes, defend a point when you're not in physical danger of being pounded for it, and shake your head over the nuttyness you hear in Southern politics. 

And very clearly, given what their music tells you about their views, LS's use of the Confederate flag is a symbol of regional pride, not a racist standard.  In fact it's mostly LS that gives me hope that it's possible to be Southerner and NOT a racist--daily life in the South notwithstanding.

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Sweet Home Alabama - Progressive Themesong | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
What did they have to be proud of? (none / 0)
From what you typed. I dont see anything for L S to be proud of .

by Left Is Right on 04/26/2007 10:40:45 AM EST

local pride (none / 0)
Most people have something they like about their home state.  A reporter once asked Medgar Evers, who was the black man who was the first to attend the University of Mississippi, who was reviled and hounded and eventually shot dead for his civil rights work, what he liked about Mississippi, why he wouldn't just leave it for some place less hostile.  He said he and his brother had always dreamed of owning a farm there, that the land was so fertile and the climate so mild a man could make a fine living there and have everything he wanted.  Here was somebody who had every reason to loathe the state that had handed him so much pain, who could still talk of it as a utopia.  There are plenty of places in the world that I wouldn't live in on a bet, that have their admirers.  I knew a highly-educated Ethiopian man living in the states who spoke rapturously of what a great place his home country was.  It's something about the nature of how people are raised, and usually it's impossible for them to convince outsiders their reasons why.

by devils eye on 04/27/2007 05:43:24 AM EST

correction (none / 0)
James Merideth was the first black man to attend Ole Miss.

The Civil Rights movement didn't get rolling until black people started migrating from southern states to northern states in the 1940s in pursuit of defense industry jobs. The migration pattern continued in the 1950s, and northern whites decided that something must be done to make the south more hospitable for blacks. 

by KenTX on 04/27/2007 06:41:33 AM EST

[ Parent ]
Continuation (none / 0)

...and northern whites decided that something must be done to make the south more hospitable for blacks.

And so northern whites formed Lynyrd Skynyrd for the purpose of writing "Sweet Home Alabama," the greatest black anthem since "Amazing Grace."

Just curious, what exactly, besides building Waffle House after Waffle House and stuffing Georgia highway patrol cars with baton-happy cops, did these "northern whites" (also known as the auwowa boweawis) do to make the south more hospitable for blacks?

by OneHitKill on 04/27/2007 12:26:53 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Just a guess (none / 0)
Just curious, what exactly, besides building Waffle House after Waffle House and stuffing Georgia highway patrol cars with baton-happy cops, did these "northern whites" (also known as the auwowa boweawis) do to make the south more hospitable for blacks?

Perhaps Ken is referring to the role played by men like Everett Dirksen in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

by Twba on 04/27/2007 01:56:45 PM EST

[ Parent ]
So tired of that racist troll (none / 0)
Perhaps the moronic troll is inferring that whites in the north didn't like blacks moving in next door so they HAD to do something to help keep them in the south.

by Left Is Right on 04/27/2007 02:48:56 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Tired? Then Leave! (none / 0)
“Perhaps the moronic troll is inferring that whites in the north didn't like blacks moving in next door so they HAD to do something to help keep them in the south.”

Whites in the North didn’t care about the plight of black people in the South for 100 years, until this happened.

“The Civil Rights Act was an attempt to improve the quality of life for African Americans and other minority groups. Historical momentum for civil rights legislation grew in the mid-1940s due to the extensive black migration to northern cities.”

I’m happy to be an integral part of your continuing education. I’m guessing that American History is probably not a hot topic in the hair styling salons of “California”.

by KenTX on 04/27/2007 04:08:04 PM EST

[ Parent ]
History Lesson (none / 0)
Twba: "Perhaps Ken is referring to the role played by men like Everett Dirksen in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."


Dub, thanks for the help. I keep assuming that this forum is populated by people who know their history.

Here is a breakdown of the vote in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.



by KenTX on 04/27/2007 03:37:42 PM EST

[ Parent ]
are you really this stupid? (none / 0)


I guess Martin Luther King was a northern white?.. Fucking idiot

by Left Is Right on 04/27/2007 02:44:54 PM EST

[ Parent ]
The Enigma of the South (none / 0)
The South is known for its hospitality. And indeed, there is a lot of warmth from the people.  When I first moved here from out west in the 80's I had a difficult time adjusting - women weren't supposed to have opinions outside of the one dictated by their husband. Back then, Southern hospitality was only real if you were not from the south and you were just "passin' through".  In order to "Come back, ya'll" you first had to leave.

Once they found out a damn yankee was staying, there was a distinct "coldness".  The joke always was, as someone from Montana (which was not even a state during the war of Northern Agression - as it is STILL known down here), I was not a damn yankee.  But then again, I was from a different (foreign) part of the country so in essence, I guess I was a damn yankee.

To be fair, when you are an outsider to a region --- it takes a while for people born and raised in that region to warm up -- no MATTER where you are.

"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song you can not escape in this state. I have a lot of fond memories with that song in the background... like the 1992 University of Alabama National Championship in college football.  They also played the song when I graduated from college. I agree with devils eye to the extent that the term "they" in the line "In Birmingham they love the governor" does NOT necessarily imply the L.S. is on the same page as the "they" in the song.

My husband used to be a "roadie" (someone that works on tours for a band -- set up, tear downs, and mike checks - stuff like that) and he has worked with Lynard Skynard on a few occasions.  He thought they were pretty down to earth, nice guys. He didn't get the impression that they were racist jerks at all.

As for the Confederate Flag in the South - talk about a controversal topic...  It is important that people who have never interacted with born and bred white Southerner's understand that to many the Confederate Flag does NOT objectify the oppression of the Black man... though I do NOT argue it DOES represent that heinous mindset.  I am not arguing for the flag -- I am only saying that I can see where some people I know are coming from.... to them the flag represents independence from the federal government. It represents an honored great-great-great uncle, etc.  While I see where they come from, I do not sympathize with their point of view - those that support and wave the rebel flag, that is.  I call Montana home, and believe me.... all it takes to comprehend a "perception / cultural divide" is to visit the site of Custer's Last Stand - just south of Hardin, MT -- near the Crow Indian Reservation, on the Little Big Horn. Only now, over 100 years later is there a memorial honoring the Indians that fought there.

I am just trying to say that it takes time to help people see a "big" picture. Many whites just don't understand what the flag of the Confederacy means to black people that had to fear the coming of the lynch mobs in the post-civil war era.  We see things from our own experiences until we make an effort to see the other side of the story.  Since whites didn't really have to worry about being lynched in the middle of the night for some pretended offence -- many just don't THINK about what the Confederate Flag means to the decendents of those that were on the dark side of its history.  But discussions like this one are GOOD because it helps people see and remember the south does have a sad, overtly racist history.

During the civil war many whites who fought on the side of the south did not understand what the war was about beyond the catch phrase "states rights".  You could argue some perhaps thought, the Northerners hated the Southerners for their "freedom". 

by BigSkyChild on 04/27/2007 11:14:56 AM EST

Uh...because it was called Southern Rock (none / 0)

perhaps....just maybe...don't you think southern themes would be used.

Marshal Tucker, Molly Hatchet, Outlaws , Lynard Skinard , Earl , Rhea  Daniels... all used southern imagery.

Sweet Home Alabama...phonetically has a ring to it...catchy

Sweet Home Wisconsin...not so catchy. 

Like Freud said...sometimes a cigar is a cigar. 

by MRFred on 04/27/2007 08:23:13 PM EST

Sweet Home Alabama - Progressive Themesong | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden)
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