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LYNYRD SKYNYRD -- "SWEET HOME ALABAMA"
 | Writers: Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Ed King
| Producer: Al Kooper
| Recorded: January 1974 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles
| Released: May 1974 (album), July 1974 (single)
| Players: | Ronnie Van Zant -- lead vocals Allen Collins -- guitar Gary Rossington -- guitar Ed King -- guitar Billy Powell -- piano Roosevelt Cook -- organ Leon Wilkeson -- bass Robert Burns -- drums Album: Second Helping (MCA, 1974)
| Also On: | One More From The Road, (MCA, 1976) Gold & Platinum (MCA, 1980) and many live albums and other compilations The lyrics to "Sweet Home Alabama," which are a rebuttal of
sorts to the Neil Young songs "Alabama" and
"Southern Man," were written by lead singer Ronnie Van Zant
on the band's tour bus. Van Zant said, "We wrote it as a joke. We
didn't even think about it -- the words just came out that way. We just
laughed like hell and said, 'Ain't that funny?' We love Neil Young -- we
love his music."
| Young was also an admirer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and he wrote "Powderfinger"
for them, although Skynyrd never recorded the song.
| "Sweet Home Alabama" was the band's first Top 10 Billboard hit,
and it spent 11 weeks in the Top 40.
| The band had reached FM radio with "Free Bird," but was
looking for a Top 40 song. Van Zant felt "Sweet Home Alabama"
could be it, but producer Al Kooper and their record company
thought the subject matter was too regional, so "Don't Ask Me No
Questions" was the first single from Second Helping. Van
Zant made a deal with the label that if it didn't hit, "Sweet Home
Alabama" would be tried next. He said, "I just had a feeling
about it. We got it down real fast. It's always the ones that you get
down fast that make it."
| "Don't Ask Me No Questions" didn't hit, and Second Helping
wasn't selling, but that all changed with the release of "Sweet
Home Alabama," and the song's references to not only Young but also
Alabama Governor George Wallace and Watergate brought publicity
and success. | |
FAST FORWARD:
| On October 20th, 1977, the band was flying between concerts when their
chartered plane crashed outside Gillsburg, Mississippi. Van Zant,
guitarist Steve Gaines, and his sister, backup singer Cassie
Gaines, all died in the crash, as did manager Dean Kilpatrick
and the pilots. The other bandmembers survived with serious injuries.
| Rossington, Collins, Powell, and Wilkeson regrouped as the Rossington
Collins Band in 1980, with Dale Krantz on vocals. The group
played an instrumental version of "Free Bird" as a tribute to
the dead musicians.
| In 1986, Collins crashed his car, killing his girlfriend and leaving him
paralyzed from the waist down.
| In 1987, the 10th anniversary of the plane crash, Rossington, Powell,
Wilkeson, and guitarist Ed King reunited as Lynyrd Skynyrd,
adding Randall Hall on guitar and Johnny Van Zant -- the
younger brother of Ronnie and 38 Special's Donnie -- on
vocals, for a commemorative tour and double live album. The band began
recording again in 1991.
| The reunion stuck, with Skynyrd continuing to record and tour. The group
now includes former Blackfoot leader Rickey Medlocke on
guitars and occasional vocals. Medlocke was also a member of Lynyrd
Skynyrd before the band got their first record deal.
| Collins died on January 23rd, 1990.
| Wilkeson died on July 27th, 2001, from chronic liver and lung disease.
| Johnny and Donnie Van Zant recorded two rock albums under the Van
Zant name. In 2006 they released a country album, which did well.
| Rossington underwent emergency quintuple-bypass surgery in February
2003, forcing the band to postpone some shows. He's since been given the
all-clear by his doctors and is back on the road. | |