Sweet Home Alabama!


What a startling revelation it was that Merry Clayton, a black female singer sang original back-up vocals on this classic song that was later to become a redneck anthem!

The live Lynyrd Skynyrd performances that you can watch on sites such as youtube feature 3 white female backup singers (one of whom was killed in THE plane crash) and therefore my (mis)conception was that the original recording just featured those 3 singers.

BTW, if you listen carefully to the lyrics of Sweet Home Alabama, this song is not necessarily racist: it challenges Neil Young in a jocular manner for a broad-brush rubbishing of the south (in fact Neil Young & Lynyrd Skynyrd's members became good friends)and appears to also criticise Alabama's racist governor George Wallace.

In my opinion, Merry Clayton had no need to have misgivings about singing on this classic song.

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I agree. Lol

I was shocked and it made me laugh. The idea that it's become a redneck anthem, Lynyrd Skynrd isn't a group that most Black people would really be into or thing they'd have anything to do with Blacks or Civil Rights, but the sound of the Black women helped define the sound of that song and the lyrics are not only about pride in Southern culture, but speaking out against racism and social injustice.

I think that's why the guy she was dating said she'd understand later why it's important to sing this song with that band.

The 70's were probably the least racist times in music history. It was about artists getting together to make art.

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Yeah! That guy who advised her was right!

12YAS-9 WOWS-8 Am. Hustle-6 The Butler-6 Captain Philip-5.5 20 Feet From Stardom-8 Gravity-6

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Bring back the 1970's ! There is a clip on you tube of one of the members of 3 dog night giving Roberta Flack a kiss on the mouth after they performed a duet together. No more racism ! No more hate ! It doesn't matter the color of the one you date !

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Indeed. Contrary to popular belief, not all southerners are racists and there is absolutely nothing in the song that supports racism. Lynyrd Skynyrd, in fact, paid homage to black bluesmen in the song "Ballad of Curtis Loew," that was likely based on locals they knew growing up in Florida as well.

I think we've actually devolved in these types of understandings. Lynyrd Skynyrd commonly used the Confederate flag, for instance, as a symbol of southern pride in the 70s, as many before and after them did (even the Dukes of Hazard). It was never meant offensively or to promote or even intimate racism. Until recently, a very small number of people ever read such messages into its display, nor would it have even occurred to them. My local high school - just outside of Chicago - used Confederate flags for decades as a symbol of their rivalry with the local "North" sister school. No longer. Any student found displaying Confederate flags at any sports event faces immediate suspension and/or counseling (reprogramming) regardless of their intent or knowledge of the controversy surrounding the flag.

We have become a less free country because of our obsessions with such issues, reading racism into every avenue of life. No longer are the ideals of "color-blindess" promoted. Instead, we're told it is important to view life through a prism of race, class and gender. No thanks. The only thing that matters to me are the values one holds. I resent that this film, while enjoyable, did not take greater effort to separate the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd from this perceived racism. These were not racists, and I found the insinuation a little strong.

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Well put, billymac. One thing that immediately bothered me about this documentary was the way it played the race card right in the beginning, making fun of the soulless white girl singers and making the "black sound" out to be the savior of bland white music in the 50s & 60s. The filmmakers didn't have to do that. They could've just focused on how women of color added their distinct new tone to rock & roll without taking racial sides or making white female vocalists look like hollow puppets.

Similarly, the whole "Sweet Home Alabama" segment was played for a cheap racial kick. As you pointed out, Lynyrd Skynyrd were not racists. In fact, they were surprisingly progressive for a southern band... singing songs like "Gimme Three Steps" and "Saturday Night Special" which were clearly anti-guns ("Why don't we dump 'em, people, to the bottom of the sea / Before some ol' fool come around here, wanna shoot either you or me").

And Skynyrd's singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant said many times that he didn't support racism or segregation of any sort. He explained the line in Sweet Home Alabama that expresses this: "In Birmingham they love the governor--boo! boo! boo! Well we all did what we could do." At the time Birmingham's governor Wallace wanted to segregate black & white schools, and Ronnie was against this.

But by showing a band of bearded, southern gents with a confederate flag, this documentary clearly tries to get our blood boiling. Especially when Merry talks about how this was her way of overcoming racism. Wrong battle... Lynyrd Skynyrd were not the enemy, they were just musicians.

A great non-racially-divisive documentary to watch is "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" which showcases some very influential African-American musicians without turning it into an unnecessary racial issue. I don't think true music lovers really care what color the musicians are, so why bring it up unless you're doing a documentary about racism?

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Well said all. BTW, there is a Skynyrd live outdoor performance on youtube where Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant is wearing a t-shirt featuring the cover of Neil Young's "Tonight's The Night" album!

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@bluesdoctor

The Confederate flag is an outdated symbol of how the South wanted to secede from the country from slavery---what the hell is that to be proud of? That's why it's been banned in some places. Plus the Civil War is over and the South lost, so why the hell is anyone still flying today anyway. The only thing it's good for is to wipe off somebody's dirty shoes with. Now bring the hate just because I said that---I know somebody is!

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Young’s “Southern Man” is a classic too.

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I found it interesting that Merry Clayton, after performing on "Sweet Home Alabama," later recorded her own version of "Southern Man," as seen in this movie. I wonder if that was a coincidence, or if she was trying to send a message there, maybe regretting at the time of having done the Skynyrd tune.

For the record, it's well documented that Skynyrd were not racist, they were just sticking up for the South. Basically saying "don't tar everyone there with the same brush." Their jab at Neil Young was simply that, a jab. Ronnie Van Zant was indeed a Neil Young fan, and often wore that "Tonight's the Night" shirt. I think I even heard somewhere that he was buried in it. Neil Young also admitted later that he regretted his lyrics in "Southern Man" and deserved the blast from Skynyrd. In his 2012 book, Waging Heavy Peace, he said: "I don't like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."

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I do know the sweet home slams song quite well.

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All I hope is that Merry gets her royalties as the original back-up singer in the record.
I don't know how it works in USA, but at least in my country, a back-up singer must get her/his % of the royalties (very low, of course, compared to the writers and lead performers) every time the song where she sang is played on the radio, is used on films, TV, etc.

Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.

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