Even though they're Rwingers, I still like Skynyrd....

[Taverner]

They do some damn fine music....and I'll admit it...I even like Freebird.

So go ahead, shoot me :)

[Drum]

1. Agreed.

:headbang:

[devilgrrl]

2. From what I've heard, they were rather progressive.

:shrug:

[Taverner]

3. Well in Sweet Home Alabama they praise Gov Wallace

You know, the guy who stood outside of Alabama refusing to let Blacks in.

[enigmatic]

4. This has been covered here many times

I'm headed for work so I can't search the threads here, but the orginal band wasn't Republicans, and Ronnie Van Zandt wrote that song tongue in cheeck as a reaction to Neil Young's "Southern Man". Neil and Ronnie were friends..

[Taverner]

5. I've heard that but I dunno

It never came from their mouths...

[enigmatic]

7. It did

There are a number of Ronnie Van Zandt and Neil Young interviews where there they talked about both songs and why they wrote them. Now I really have to go to work:)

[RebelOne]

10. What Ronnie Van Zandt said

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama_(song)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_Alabama_(song)#Political_references

[Bossy Monkey]

11. You should probably listen to the words

"In Birmingham they love the gov'nor/now we all did what we could do..." which would mean that they were anti-Wallace people, were Skynyrd from Alabama, which they weren't. It's just a song. Listen to another of their songs, "Saturday Night Special," which is unequivocally pro-gun-control. From the same album as "Sweet Home" was "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" about the love of a young white boy for an old black bluesman. Maybe not "We Shall Overcome," but not exactly "Dixie" either. Ronnie to the best of my knowledge was a good Democrat. The surviving members may or may not have gone Republican; however, if it's "Sweet Home Alabama" that's worrying you, worry not.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

13. Ever heard of tongue-in-cheek?

:eyes:

A band that played at Carter campaign stops can't be that RW.

[Ekirh]

17. I think sadly in their current form . .

They are R-Winger. .

But during that time period they definitely weren't . . . . .

And I agree with the guy who started this topic. .I too enjoy The Skynard. . not a band I listen to all that much . . but Gimme Back my Bullets brings back good memories of playing pool against my younger brother in the garage . .even if that song usually meant I waas about to get my ass kicked in a very quick game of nine ball.

[cmkramer]

18. They're live and let live conservatives

They always say they support Republicans but that they have many Democratic friends and family members and that "we're all Americans".

[Ekirh]

19. "nods" Fair Enough . . .

I haven't really listened to much of them in their current form to be honest. Just from what I've heard/observed.

[Phillycat]

6. Sigh. Isn't there some basic template for this thread that we can

point people to?

They weren't RWingers.

[Taverner]

8. I've seen the theads

And participated in them even...

The fact that none of the band ever refuted the Wallace stuff leads me to believe they just might have been Dixiecrats...

But what the christ, I like their music anyway

[cmkramer]

21. Yes they did

What they said was that they admired George Wallace because he was a proud Southern man but that they vehemently disagreed with his racism,

[jus_the_facts]

9. Yes there are many in the archives....

x(



:hi:

[taterguy]

12. Once upon a time they wrote progressive anthems

The current band might perform for the GOP but the band in the early 70s wrote some of the best songs I've heard about social issues. Here's what I wrote about them somewhere else:

Long before sprawl became a buzzword they wrote the lyric: ‘I can see the concrete slowly creeping. Lord take me and mine before that comes.’, and included a plea for people to stop and think about the air they’re breathing. They wrote about a man falsely accused of robbery who would rather die than continue being locked up in a barbaric prison. They asked the question: ‘How much does money mean?’ in an indictment of greed where the song’s narrator offers his guitar to a banker, if he would just loan him the money to bury his father. They wrote about befriending the dregs of society, because everybody has something to offer.

[malmapus]

15. Hey! Those two songs you mention first are my favorites of Skynyrd

Old Walls of Raeford and All I Can Do. Sometimes I think how Ronnie seemed to of gotten his wish with dying and not having to see the south be plowed under and turned into strip malls.

[malmapus]

14. I like their old stuff pre-crash, hate what they are today

But yeah, they were pretty progressive back in the day, Old Walls of Raeford is one of my favorites, and All I Can Do.

[BreweryYardRat]

16. I'd swear a recent song on "Then and Now, Vol II" is anti-Iraq war.

There's a lyric that goes along the lines of "got our heads caught in something overseas, standing ass-deep in hypocrisy."

[Zomby Woof]

20. The Truth about Lynyrd Skynyrd

For probably the 295th time on DU, I must once again slay the myths and misconceptions about the greatest of all American rock bands.

The current version, which I call "The New Johnny Van Zant Band" (kid brother had his own band in the 80's) is not truly Lynyrd Skynyrd. There are two original members, and they are ignorant and naive to associate with right-wingers like the sycophantic Travis Tritt, or the now-delusional Charlie Daniels, but they don't have Ronnie around to knock some sense into them.

:bluebox: Ronnie Van Zant supported Jimmy Carter strongly in the 1976 race, and the band raised a lot of money for his campaign. To him, Carter was for the working man, and would restore trust and integrity to the government, as well as heal the nation after Vietnam.

:bluebox: In reference to "Sweet Home Alabama", bassist Leon Wilkeson stated that they "supported Wallace about as much as your average American supported Hitler".

:bluebox: There's a "Boo! Boo! Boo!" after the mention of Wallace in that song.

:bluebox: Watergate didn't bother a cynic who was used to Washington D.C. playing games with southerners, especially since Nixon showed his opportunistic colors with the "Southern Strategy". Ronnie said that when he wrote that lyric, he just laughed, because he knew it would "either blow us wide open, or piss everyone off so bad we won't get a second chance."

:bluebox: Clydie King and Merry Clayton are African-Americans, and they sing the background vocals on the song, which pretty much discredits any charges of racism. As for those pesky stars 'n bars... MCA Records made them use it for a marketing tool, and Ronnie finally got his way when the flag was no longer used on their final tour in 1977, before the plane crash. He said Europeans loved it more than the Americans, because "they are into that macho American shit".

:bluebox: "Things Goin' On" is anti-Vietnam and advocates helping the inner cities with the money that was wasted on the war and the moon program. Have things changed that much?

:bluebox: "Saturday Night Special" is anti-handgun, and calls for voluntary gun control ("why don't we dump 'em all, people, to the bottom of the sea?").

:bluebox: "All I Can Do Is Write About It" is pro-environmental.

:bluebox: "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" reveals the truths of racism in the south circa the late 50's, and how a young boy overcame his prejudices because of the great healing power of music. It is so beautifully told, without exploitation or overstatement.

As for the current incarnation I am reluctant to praise, it must be noted that it was 9/11 that caused the unfortunate turn in the survivors' ways of thinking. And I still suspect that guitarist Rick Medlocke is no flaming wingnut, based on some of his contributions to the current catalog. He can be counted as the "third" original member, since he recorded some demos with the band as a drummer in the early 70's, but neither recorded or toured with the band after they secured their contract with MCA. He went on to front Blackfoot. Some of the not-so-conservative highlights of the 1991-present version:

:bluebox: "I've Seen Enough" is a rap-influenced tune, which harkens some of the working-class populism of their early work. Weren't blue-collar workers once Democratic constituents? Sadly not as much as in days gone by, but it sure as hell behooves us to embrace working people, I think.

:bluebox: "Tomorrow's Goodbye" is their sequel to "All I Can Do Is Write About It", with an even more urgent message to save our planet.

:bluebox: "None Of Us Are Free" is right out the civil rights era, stating quite plainly that if "one of us isn't free, none of us are free." Musically, it has an R&B flavor, quite soulful, and contemporary - with timeless lyrics.

:bluebox: "We Ain't Much Different" turns southern provincialism on its head. It celebrates our commonality as people, no matter our ethnic and regional differences. It is worthy of being called a Skynyrd song in the best sense of the word.

:bluebox: During the 2000 Florida recount debacle, Jim Ladd on radio's syndicated "Rockline" asked Johnny Van Zant and Gary Rossington their opinion of the election (they are Florida natives), and Johnny said "Why can't we just keep Bubba in there?" - not exactly an anti-Clinton sentiment.

:bluebox: "The Way" calls into question how we are handling Afghanistan and Iraq (this was in 2003 when it was unfashionable to do so) by stating "we have our heads stuck into something way overseas/that ain't the Constitution they wrote for me." Granted, this was on the same album as the Darryl Worley co-penned piece of crap "Red, White, and Blue", but proof that Medlocke is smart enough to sneak his own sentiments in under the radar.

I tire of pigeonholing and knee-jerk ideological labeling. The original Skynyrd was neither hardcore "liberal" or "conservative". They certainly had many characteristics of the former and probably a few of the latter, and the current version is somewhat of an inverse model. Still, understanding the band takes more complexity than digging up soundbites or lyric quotes to properly give them their due.

Think I'll bookmark this thread for future reference.