Post by RicYou're joking, right?
No, I'm serious.
I think it is easy to understand the words correctly yet misinterpret
meaning in song lyrics. The most famous example I know of is ZZ Top's
"Arrested for Driving While Blind". Tipper Gore mistook the lyrics which
were intended both as sarcasm and a warning against drunk driving, for an
endorsement of drunk driving.
And there are the words with no real meaning, for instance Led Zeppelin's
infamous "tadpole in a jar" line. I guess what that line really means is
that they were probably on some really powerful drugs when they wrote it.
Post by RicOf course it's a denouncement, not of the South or Southerners in
general, but of the Southern history of slavery and enduring racist
attitudes (from a minority). It's a bitter indictment of
institutionalised racism...
Good. That is what I hoped. But I just couldn't find any quote from Neil
saying so.
Post by RicSouthern man better keep your head
Don't forget what your good book said - (the Bible, all men are created
equal)
In the antebellum South, the Bible was frequently used to justify slavery.
(And besides, "All men are created equal" is from the U.S. Constitution,
not the Bible.)
Post by RicSouthern change gonna come at last
Now your crosses are burning fast - (metaphor, burning crosses [Ku Klux
Klan]
Yes, at "crosses burning" I certainly thought of the Klan.
Post by Ric- burning fast [time running out]) Southern man
Or perhaps, I thought, it meant to burn them more frequently.
Post by RicI saw cotton and I saw black - (black men working the cotton fields)
Tall white mansions and little shacks. - (inequality)
Yes. But some like it that way.
Post by RicSouthern man when will you pay them back? - (when will you redress the
balance?)
I took it to possibly mean, when will you pay them ("them" being the
North, and the blacks) back for losing the war? In other words, to take
revenge.
Post by RicI heard screamin' and bullwhips cracking How long? how long? - (How
long is this gonna go on?)
Southern man better keep your head
Don't forget what your good book said Southern change gonna come at last
The South will rise again?
Post by RicNow your crosses are burning fast
Southern man
Lily belle, your hair is golden brown I've seen your black man comin'
round Swear by God I'm gonna cut him down! - (White supremacist attitude
to white woman [it's a quote not an opinion!])
This is the line that made me wonder what the whole song was trying to
say. I didn't see it as a quote, but rather as a declaration of intent (to
the extent that it is only a song lyric, of course).
Post by RicI heard screamin' and bullwhips cracking How long? how long?
'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynyrd Skynyrd was their answer to this
perceived criticism of the South in general!
Yep, I remember that. "I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern man
don't need him around anyhow". At the time, I rather liked Freebird in
particular and Lynyrd Skynyrd in general. But after that, I decided I
needed to chose between Neil and Lynyrd Skynyrd. After having a look at
both, the choice was easy. I went with Neil.
It's also worth noting that it is common knowledge that Neil declared
there was no feud between them, it was all a misunderstanding, and Neil
even wore a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt at his own concert.
This just made me wonder more where Neil was coming from regarding the
Southern Man lyrics.
By the way, thanks for not flaming me. Of all the artists and bands that I
like, when I consider the people behind the music Neil Young is the one
that I respect the most, bar none. Which is why I always been puzzled by
what I saw as different possible interpretations of the Southern Man
lyrics.
--
Tony Sivori