Sweet Home Alabama by Rhonda_Kaye

Rhonda_Kaye - Sweet Home Alabama

Rhonda_Kaye

May 10, 2024 01:03pm

I added some harmony and tyfl! From Wikipedia, "Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">rock</a> band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynyrd_Skynyrd" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Lynyrd Skynyrd</a>, released on the band's second album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Helping" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Second Helping</a> (1974). It was written in response to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Neil Young</a>'s 1970 song "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Man_(song)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Southern Man</a>", which the band felt blamed the entire <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_United_States" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">South</a> for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_slavery" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">American slavery</a>;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-SouthernMan-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[5]</a> Young is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name-dropping" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">name-checked</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diss_(music)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">dissed</a> in the lyrics. It reached number eight on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Billboard Hot 100</a> chart in 1974, becoming the band's highest-charting single.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[6]</a>The song remains a staple in southern and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_rock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">classic rock</a>, and is arguably the band's signature song.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[</a> None of the three writers of the song were from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Alabama</a>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Van_Zant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Ronnie Van Zant</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Rossington" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Gary Rossington</a> were both born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville,_Florida" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Jacksonville, Florida</a>, while <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_King" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Ed King</a> was from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendale,_California" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Glendale, California</a>. In an interview with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_%26_Gun" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Garden & Gun</a>, Rossington explained the writing process: "I had this little riff. It's the little picking part and I kept playing it over and over when we were waiting on everyone to arrive for rehearsal. Ronnie and I were sitting there, and he kept saying, 'play that again'. Then Ronnie wrote the lyrics and Ed and I wrote the music."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[11]</a> The introductive signature riff, prevalent throughout the song, was written and played by Ed King. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-12" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[12]</a> The basic track was recorded with guide lead vocals, Ed King's lead guitar, Leon Wilkeson's bass, and Bob Burns' drums. The final lead vocals from Van Zant, along with Rossington and Collins' rhythm guitars and Powell's piano were added later.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-SoundOnSound-13" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[13]</a>"Sweet Home Alabama" was a major chart hit for a band whose previous singles had "lazily sauntered out into release with no particular intent." The hit led to two television rock show offers that the band declined.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-Dupree-14" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[14]</a> In addition to the original appearance on Second Helping, the song has appeared on numerous Lynyrd Skynyrd compilations and live albums.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_World" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Record World</a> called it the group's "most commercial single entry so far."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama#cite_note-rw-15" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[15]</a> <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e4/Skynyrd-Sweet-Home-Alabama.jpg/220px-Skynyrd-Sweet-Home-Alabama.jpg">