Lynyrd Skynyrd, the legendary southern band that produced hits like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Freebird," put it well in their new song (and album with the same title), "God and Guns":God and guns
Keep us strong
That's what this country
Was founded on
Well we might as well give up and run
If we let them take our God and guns
Huh.
Last I remember, they were singing this:
Oh, let me tell you all about it
Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em, people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some ol' fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me
Hand guns are made for killin'
They ain't no good for nothin' else
And if you like to drink your whiskey
You might even shoot yourself
So why don't we dump 'em, people
To the bottom of the sea
Before some ol' fool come around here
Wanna shoot either you or me
I'll need to see some substantive contributions that go beyond music they get paid for before I trust this is not mere audience-pandering opportunism. If they're sincere, let them donate all "Saturday Night Special" royalties to some pro-gun rights cause.
I won't trust anybody who profits off of both sides in a war.
Amen, David.
ReplyDeletewell, war itself is committed for profit. everybody aims to maximize profit, the question is how.
ReplyDeletei recall there was a time when hunters were not big fans of pistols. yet i suppose the band, like any other advertiser, must follow trends to stay afloat. bands become bands to entertain, so i imagine they enjoyed meeting market demand then as much as they do now.
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."
Naw, they need to make one more dumb assed tribute song about an airplane crash victim instead. What is it about irrelevant singers' desperate attempts to remain in the public eye? Is it that they've blown all their dough on dope and rehab, or that they think they amount to something? I guess once you become an attention whore, you can't get off that pony.
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness, they're not ALL the same people now as then...could that have any impact?
ReplyDeleteThe definition of an honest politician is one who, once bought, stays bought. Looks like these boys are not politicians and didn't stay bought!
ReplyDeleteHa! For 25-30 years now I'd thought the singer was saying:
ReplyDelete"So why don't we dump all the people to the bottom of the sea..."
I thought he was bein' sarcastic and insightful, y'know!
Also to be found on the Platinum and Gold Skynyrd album was the song "Gimme' back my Bullets". I never got the impression LSB was anti-gun...
A couple of observations. First, Ronnie Van Zant wrote "Saturday Night Special". He is deceased now and his little brother Johnny has taken his place. Two different song writers. Second, I never took "Saturday Night Special" to be necessarily anti-gun or even anti-handgun. I took it to be against cheap, throwaway guns that idiots tended (at that time) to carry to look cool or big. All of us would condemn the idiots as portrayed in the lyrics had they been real people. (I could be wrong though. We will never know for sure.)
ReplyDeleteAs for "Gimme Back my Bullets", it is my understanding that Ronnie Van Zant wrote that about a dispute he had with the record label about his contract and song rights. The bullets would be his rights.
In any case, of course the current incarnation of Lynyrd Skynyrd is about making money. Pandering to fans is part and parcel to that.
I don't think there's any question the song is anti-gun, or at least anti-handgun. However, it's a stretch to assume everyone in the band shared Ronnie Van Zant's views on the subject in 1975, let alone that they all subscribe to them now. I'm not sure the 1975 and 2009 versions of me would agree on anything.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a stretch. If you read what I wrote, I never assumed that.
ReplyDelete