My Seventies Music

Tag: Lynyrd Skynyrd

  • Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Gimme Three Steps”, Free Bird” And “Sweet Alabama”

    Cover of Seventies hit "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

    While I wasn’t really a follower of U.S. Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd at the time, I became very familiar with three of their tracks from the early Seventies, namely “Gimme Three Steps”, Free Bird” and “Sweet Alabama”.

    This was largely through working with a band in Germany called Nuthin’ Fancy who were big fans of Lynyrd Skynyrd – in fact I have only just learned that they took their name from their idols’ third album…

    “Gimme Three Steps” didn’t chart when it was released as a single in 1973, but the debut album it was on (“Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced ‘lĕh-‘nérd ‘skin-‘nérd)”) went to No. 1 – here it is:

    Also from that 1973 album was what was to become Lynyrd Skynyrd’s signature song, “Free Bird”, which reached No. 19 as a single in 1974, making it their second Top 40 hit.

    After the tragic plane crash in October 1977 in which several band members, including singer Ronnie Van Zantz, were killed, “Free Bird” was only played as an instrumental for many years.

    This is “Free Bird”, live in July 1977, just months before that defining event (takes a little while to get going, but it’s worth it):

    Previously, Lynyrd Skynyrd had their first chart hit, at No. 8, with “Sweet Home Alabama” from their second album, “Second Helping”.

    The response to Neil Young’s songs “Southern Man” and “Alabama” was somewhat controversial because of lines about the state’s governor, which some took to be an endorsement of his segregationalist views, an endorsement put down to a misunderstanding and denied by band members.

    “Sweet Home Alabama” is another of those songs that has meanwhile become a rock anthem:

    I think “Sweet Home Alabama” is one Lynyrd Skynyrd song that I did actually hear back in the Seventies already, and it’s definitely one you remember.

    When did you first hear it?

    Paul

    P.S. Lynyrd Skynyrd is really hard to spell right consistently!!

  • The Sex Pistols – “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” And “Holidays In The Sun”

    Cover of The Sex Pistols album "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols"

    The late Seventies were the years of punk rock, and although not the first punk rock band, The Sex Pistols were the epitome of the movement, with songs like “Anarchy In The UK”, “God Save The Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays In The Sun”.

    I didn’t actually get a (taped) copy of their only album, “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols” (1977), until a few years later, when I lived in Germany.

    Or maybe I did get it before leaving New Zealand, I just remember playing it in the car of a band I wrote some stuff with in Germany, shortly after I met them in December 1980. The bass player and singer of the ZZ Top/Lynrd Skynyrd type band didn’t like The Beatles, so I played him The Sex Pistols…

    This is the studio version of “Anarchy In The UK”:

    “God Save The Queen”, also the studio version:

    Sex Pistols classic “Pretty Vacant”:

    “Holidays In The Sun”:

    Having experienced the Berlin Wall on numerous occasions while living in Germany – from both sides – the lines in this song about it took on particular significance for me at least in the 1980s.

    Now the Wall is gone and so are The Sex Pistols, though the Berlin Wall actually lasted longer…

    Nevertheless, the “cultural” legacy of The Sex Pistols lingered on well after the actual demise of the band.

    Whatever one may think of their music, they were a catalyst for many great acts that followed.

    Paul

  • JJ Cale – “Cocaine”, “After Midnight”, “They Call Me The Breeze” and “Don’t Wait”

    Two songs from JJ Cale that stand out for me are “Cocaine” and “After Midnight”, both of which have been most famously covered by Eric Clapton.

    In fact I was just reading that it was Clapton’s 1970 cover of “After Midnight”, at a time when Cale was “languishing in obscurity” and not doing very well financially, that inspired the artist to capitalise on its success and record an album with his own version, practically kickstarting his career. Since then, many famous artists have covered his songs.

    When I come to think of it, “After Midnight” (though actually the Clapton version) is one of my favourite songs.

    I remember sitting listening to it – after midnight – in a car or van outside a gig in south Germany in the village of Sand am Main by a band I used to write stuff with in the early Eighties. It was a cassette (anybody remember those?) with Eric Clapton on one side and George Thorogood and the Destroyers on the other.

    Having said that, listening to this live version of “After Midnight” by the author himself, which is in a totally different style, I must say I like it a lot too, really funky:

    And here’s JJ Cale with his studio version of “Cocaine”:

    This live verison of “Cocaine” sounds very laid back:

    JJ Cale also wrote a track made famous by rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, “They Call Me The Breeze”.

    I found this video of it together with “Don’t Wait” (love the harmonica – and banjo? – in that one) as sound track to a motorcycle ride along the country roads of the Channel Island Guernsey – one of my favourite places, I did this on a bicycle 22 years ago:

    Don’t wait to listen to more from JJ Cale!

    Paul

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