Sweet Home Alabama

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

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Sweet Home Alabama? Sweet Home Everywhere

by Greg Richter -- Birmingham News
Monday April 21, 2008, 9:36 AM

In 1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd put itself on the charts with a song defending the Heart of Dixie against a couple of critical tunes by Neil Young. 33 years later, the world is still turnin' it up.

Mark Baggett/Birmingham News

Sure, people like it in Alabama, where the skies are so blue, but what's the appeal of Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic Southern rock anthem ''Sweet Home Alabama'' worldwide? It's more than three decades old, after all. Still, it's a hit all over.

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'Sweet Home Alabama' by the Crunchy Frogs

by Greg Richter -- The Birmingham News
Wednesday July 02, 2008, 8:35 AM

Well, now it's joined the ranks of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "London Bridge." Even the kiddies are dancing to it at the Old Settlers Day outdoor festival in Rockford, Ill.

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Sweet Home Abu Dhabi

by Greg Richter -- The Birmingham News
Wednesday June 11, 2008, 1:24 PM

Filipino bands playing classic American rock 'n' roll are all the rage in Abu Dhabi nightclubs.

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Is Lynyrd Skynyrd skewering Neil Young or slyly agreeing with him in "Sweet Home Alabama"?

by Greg Richter -- Birmingham News
Monday April 21, 2008, 10:18 AM

45 rpm single cover

Are those skies so blue because there isn't a cloud in them? Or do they have the blues because of all the bad stuff going on beneath them?

Defenders of the lyrics to ''Sweet Home Alabama'' say lead singer Ronnie Van Zant was merely scolding Neil Young for calling all Alabamians and Southerners racists in his songs ''Alabama'' and ''Southern Man'' when it was only the actions of some that were to be despised. They point out that Lynyrd Skynyrd sings ''Boo, boo, boo'' immediately after the line about then-Gov. George Wallace, a onetime racial segregationist, followed by ''Now we all did what we could do.''

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Now an Alabamian, 'Rev. Jo Jo' Billingsley was singing prophecy to herself with "Sweet Home Alabama"

by Greg Richter -- Birmingham News
Monday April 21, 2008, 10:17 AM

Courtesy Deborah Jo Billingsley WhiteJo Jo Billingsley during her years as a Honkette, one of Lynyryd Skynyrd's backup singers.

For the past 20 years, wife and mother Deborah Jo Billingsley White has had a full-time singing ministry based in Cullman.

Thirty years ago, she was known as Jo Jo Billingsley and was one of three female backup singers for Lynyrd Skynyrd known as The Honkettes.

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Lytyl-known facts on "Sweet Home Alabama"

by Greg Richter -- Birmingham News
Monday April 21, 2008, 10:14 AM

Japanese cover for the 45 rpm single

When Ronnie Van Zant says ''Turn it up'' at the beginning of the song, he isn't telling the listener to turn up the volume on the record or the radio; he's telling an engineer to increase the volume of the music track in his headphones.

Guitarist Ed King counts off ''One, two, three . . .'' to start off the music. Counting off the first song on an album was a trademark of producer Al Kooper, and ''Sweet Home Alabama'' was the first song on the band's ''Second Helping'' album.

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