Lyrics
I grew up in north Alabama back in the 1970s
When dinosaurs still roamed the earth
I'm speaking, of course, of the three great Alabama
Icons: George Wallace, Bear Bryant, and Ronnie Van Zant
Now Ronnie Van Zant wasn't from Alabama, he was from Florida
He was a huge Neil Young fan, but in the tradition of
Merle Haggard writing "Okie from Muskogee" to tell his
Dad's point of view about the hippies and Vietnam
Ronnie felt that the other side of the story should be told
Now Neil Young always claimed that "Sweet Home Alabama"
Was one of his favorite songs, and legend has it
He was an honorary pallbearer at Ronnie's funeral
Such is the duality of the Southern thing
And Bear Bryant wore a cool-lookin' red-
Checkered hat and won football games
And there's few things more loved in Alabama than
Football and the men who know how to win at it
So when the Bear would come to town, there would be a parade
Now me, I was one of them pussy boys '
Cause I hated football, so I got a guitar
But a guitar is a poor substitute for a football with
The girls in my high school, so my band hit the road
And we didn't play no Skynyrd, either
I came of age rebellin' against the
Music in my high school parking lot
It wasn't until years later, after leaving the South
For a while, that I came to appreciate and understand
The whole Skynyrd thing and its misunderstood glory
I left the South and learned how different people's perceptions
Of the Southern thing was from what I'd seen in my life
Which leads us to George Wallace
Now Wallace was, for all practical purposes
The governor of Alabama from 1962 until 1986
Once when a law prevented him from succeeding himself, he
Ran his wife Lurleen in his place, and she won by a landslide
He's most famous as the belligerent racist voice of the segregationist
South, standing in the doorways of schools and waging a political
War against a federal government that he decried as hypocritical
Wallace had started out as a lawyer and a judge with a very
Progressive and humanitarian track record for a man of his time
But he lost his first bid for governor in 1958 by hedging on
The race issue against a man who spoke out against integration
Wallace ran again in '62 as a staunch segregationist
And won big, and for the next decade spoke out loudly
He accused Kennedy and King of being communists, and he was
Constantly on national news, representing the good people of Alabama
And you know, race was only an issue
On TV in the house that I grew up in
Wallace was viewed as a man from another time and place
But when I first ventured out of the South, I was shocked at
How strongly Wallace was associated with Alabama and its people
You know, racism is a worldwide problem, and it's
Been since the beginning of recorded history
And it ain't just white and black, but thanks to George Wallace
It's always a little more convenient
To play it with a Southern accent
And bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd attempted to show another side of the
South, one that certainly exists, but few saw beyond the rebel flag
And this applies not only to their critics and
Detractors, but also from their fans and followers
So for a while, when Neil Young would come to
Town, he'd get death threats down in Alabama
Ironically, in 1971, after a particularly racially-
Charged campaign, Wallace began backpedalin'
And he opened up Alabama politics to minorities at a rate
Faster than most northern states or the federal government
Wallace spent the rest of his life
Tryin' to explain away his racist past
And in 1982, he won his last term in
Office with over 90% of the black vote
Such is the duality of the Southern thing
And George Wallace died back in '98 and
He's in Hell now, not because he's a racist
His track record as a judge and his late-life quest for
Redemption make a good argument for his being, at worst, no
Worse than most white men of his generation, north or south
But because of his blind ambition and his hunger for votes
He turned a blind eye to the suffering of black America, and
He became a pawn in the fight against the civil rights cause
Fortunately for him, the Devil is also a Southerner
So this song's gonna take place in Hell, told from
The Devil's point of view, as he does what any
Good Southerner would do when company's comin'
He brewed up some good sweet tea, and he whups up some
Southern hospitality for the arrival of the new guest