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ZZ Top


Wooderson

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The song has a certain ambiguity. The band took Wallace up on his offer as Freemen of Alabama or some shit. The "boo hoo hoo" could also be a snide cheapshot at liberal reaction to what went on under the Governor.

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which is how I always interpreted it

Mhmm. It's also a stretch to squirm out of "...Watergate don't bother me, does yer conscience bother you? *tell the truth*"

The "tell the truth" being another snide quip at liberal guilt.

Edited by Wooderson
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What about "we all did what we could do." I always took that as we had a racist governor, but we made the best of a bad situation.

There's potentially a sly wink in that line too.

I'm not trying to solve the riddle here. Just pointing out the ambiguity in not just the lyric itself but the bands later revisionist attitude.

As Tony says, that flag is their most recognisable symbol. Tough to get around that without delving into Chris Morris style "Sutcliffe!!" parody.

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Rumour is that Van Zandt was buried in a Neil Young shirt.

They were very anti-gun, and anti-violence. You only have to listen to Saturday Night Special or Gimme back my bullets to hear that.

Of course the band pretending to be Skynyrd are a bad parody .....

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"Ya'll" are misinterpreting the song much like Reagan did with Born in the USA.

The "Boo boo" was very much an anti Wallace thing. But done in a way where good ole boys would take it literally.

He also sings "Montgomery got the answer" which is a reference to a civil rights march in Montgomery, Alabama at the time lead by MLK.

The "Watergate doesn't bother me" line is basically saying "We don't tar all you northerners with the same brush after your fuck up so why call all of us southerners racist when we're all not".

Ronnie Van Zandt said "we felt Neil (with Southern Man) was shooting all the ducks in order to kill two".

Same for the confederate flag. Its a proud message using it like they did.

I love when the flag drops here. Its a fantastic statement about the "new" south.

P.S. The Van Zandts were democrats. Free speech, gun control, civil rights....

http://youtu.be/QjFjszcHyjQ

Edited by The Nal
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They also recorded the ballad of Curtis Lowe, in which they eulogise a classic blues picker.

They also recorded Saturday Night Special, in which they pleaded to throw all the guns in the sea.

These are hardly the activities of hicks, Wooderson.

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I must confess i always thought they were a bit of a novelty, only having seen the beards and heard gimme all your lovin. Just watching 1 or two of the you tube vids on here though! Iwas clearly wrong - i'd watch them.

Edited by DJL
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They also recorded the ballad of Curtis Lowe, in which they eulogise a classic blues picker.

They also recorded Saturday Night Special, in which they pleaded to throw all the guns in the sea.

These are hardly the activities of hicks, Wooderson.

I realise now I shouldn't have used the term. Apologies.

Their Whistle Test performance of Freebird is up there with the coolest things I've ever seen. I'm a fan of their band and have 2 or 3 records.

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Love Lynyrd Skynyrd myself i would probably still go see the recent incarnation of the band because seeing Freebird performed live, in full none of the 9 minutes crap the whole 12-15 minutes would do me fine.

Anyway watching this got me thinking that we need a mass ZZ Top style finger swinging crowd at Glastonbury, who wouldn't lose their shit to this? Also main question is would the Eliminator be there too? I'd hope so.

Edited by JamesT977
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Hmmm see i really enjoyed 'i gotsta get paid', 'la grange' and to some degree 'sharp dressed man' but 'legs' and 'viva las vegas' reminded why i had initially thought they were a bit of a novelty whilst the 80s music videos and lyrics to 'tush' and 'pearl necklace' didn't help either. Are most people on here fans of the greatest hits or more of the album tracks and gibbons instrumental parts? I'm getting the impression the latter would appeal to me more...

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I never paid too much attention to the lyrics as it happens. I have an aversion to flags anyway, the confederate flag just seemed really silly. And Freebird is one of the most monumentally annoying dirges ever conceived.

Go listen to Nothin Fancy and then report back.

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Actually, I don't really know what their political views are. They seem a bit republican, but at least they don't come on stage with a ginormous republican flag (a la Lynyrd Skynyrd) behind them.

moving away from Lynyrnd Skynrd for a sec and back to the bearded ones for a minute...there's less ambiguity there. they've played two of George W Bush's inauguration parties if i call...not one, but two FFS!, and in the 2004 they did one of the parties affiliated w/ his convention...

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