Review:

on 2011-10-28 CharlesMartel Said:

"Sweet Home Alabama" is about as familiar a southern rock song as you are going to get. Sadly it has been rediscovered by a lot of today's wannabe musicians and given a shitty make over. Yet, in essence, the song was a reaction as much as a positive statement. How much of it is inspired by a reversal of Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago"? And of course, there is quite an element of reaction to Neil Young, who even gets a name check in the lyrics.

Yet for all the good melody, the smart guitar riff and the wonderful backing vocals which combine to make this such a good song, I can't help but feeling there is something intrinsically wrong with it. A tribute to the slow pace of life, the sultry heat and the crushing blue sky, broken occasionally by hurricanes, yes, it is all that. But there is an element of yearning for the Confederate days in here as well, when southerners weren't being told what to do by damn Yankees. Alabama may be sweet for white boys from Florida, but is that something really worth celebrating?
Rating: 7/10