That's me counting off ALABAMA. (1,2,3)
Hearing "Sweet Home Alabama" on the radio for the first time. That was a great feeling. Ronnie'd say, "That's our 'Ramblin Man' ."
Rossington wrote the guitar part that you can hear him play BEHIND the verses (behind my Strat part). It's sort of a counter-point to my part, though his part came first. He was playing the guitar figure that you hear in the 2nd verse. When I first heard that, I put my intro lick on top of that and then finished the tune. Without me hearing that riff of his, I wouldn't have written mine.
ALABAMA took less than an hour to write...and 4 hours to put together (arrange). It was written 4 days before the session and the public hadn't heard it.
When you hear Ronnie say at the beginning of the song, "Turn it up"...Ronnie was telling Kooper to turn it up in the headset and Kooper decided to leave it in when he mixed it.
Right before Billy's piano solo at the end of ALABAMA, you can hear two 'whoo - whoo'...one is Leon and one is me.
Kooper simply didn't like the solo because it wasn't in the key of D. He probably would've loved Steve Gaines' solo on the live album. As great as Gaines was, I was always surprised that he couldn't "hear" the real key. And to compound Kooper's error, he played the song for Mike Bloomfield and Bloomfield laughed when he heard it. "That guy played the solo in the wrong key!"
In my defense...both guitar solos came to me in a dream. Note for note. I just played it as I saw it. The tune was recorded at Studio One, Doraville, GA. NOT L.A. I believe I did the solo in 2 takes. (I've had other song ideas come to me right before drifting off to sleep. But I never actually SAW a solo like the two I saw in SHA.)
I have heard stories that Kooper wanted to redo the solo with either Collins or Rossington and they couldn't come up with anything that fit -- I have heard that story but I have never asked either one of them about it. The guys actually stuck up for me. They said that since I had saw it in a dream then that is the way it was going to be. I didn't just hear it in a dream, I actually saw it. When Billy [Powell] plays his piano solo, he plays it in the key of G.
My crazy logic always told me that the song is actually in G...NOT D. The song RESOLVES in G....listen to Billy's piano solo at the end...it's in G. In 1989, Wolf Marshall did a transcription of my guitar solo for Guitar For The Practicing Musician. He indicated ONE SHARP...which IS the key of G. I rest my case.
I can understand where the 'boo boo boo' would be misunderstood. It's not US going 'boo' ... it's what the Southern man hears the Northern man say every time the Southern man'd say "In Birmingham we love the gov'nor". Get it? "We all did what WE could do!" to get Wallace elected. It's not a popular opinion but Wallace stood for the average white guy in the South.
"Watergate doesn't bother me" because that stuff happens in politics...but someone's conscience ought to bother them for what happened to Wallace. Walter Bremer may or may not have been a yankee but he sure destroyed whatever chance Wallace had to be president. And hardly anyone in America noticed. I still like the plaque that hangs here in my office that says I'm an honorary member of the Alabama State Militia...signed personally by George C. Sure, the man had his flaws. But he spoke for the common man of the South. And, whoa, I'm gonna get in trouble over this whole dang post!
At the end Ronnie is saying "Montgomery's got the answer." Kooper always recorded at least two vocal tracks. The first "Mont" you hear Ronnie say is from the first vocal track. Then, during the mixdown, Kooper shut that track off...and you hear Ronnie say the second "Mont". Get it? "Mont...Montgomery's got the answer."
You can actually HEAR "Southern Man" after the Neil Young line in verse two!! I've pointed it out to several people and NO ONE hears it but me. It's Al Kooper doing his Neil impersonation. IT'S MIXED SO LOW it's barely audible. But it's there, I swear it.
SHA was the first song with backup singers. Though they weren't The Honkettes....they were Merry Clayton (sister of Sam Clayton of Little Feat) and the legendary Clydie King. Actually, both of those gals are legendary big time.
I can't recall anything on record where I sang backup. Right before Billy's piano solo at the end of ALABAMA, you can hear two 'whoo - whoo'...one is Leon and one is me. And that's all I remember!
SHA was recorded with only Leon & Bob Burns. I used Allen's Marshall amp for both the rhythm part and the solo (not too loud) and the mike was pretty close to the cabinet.
(About the Strat SHA was written on) It's a real lousy guitar...seriously. Made during that period of Fender's history when quality was way down. The neck's always felt funny (it's straight), it's heavy...but it does sound ok. I didn't use it that much. Only played it on ALABAMA and MISS. KID. Allen used it a couple of times.
(About playing the song before the album was released)....we didn't play that song very much only because it hadn't been released and we were trying to push the stuff that had. I had a recording of us playing it in Salt Lake City in early '74...oddly, we did it slower than usual! But that song didn't get added to the setlist until SECOND HELPING came out. Remember, Ronnie didn't like to play more than an hour and had a lot of material.
Q - What position is your pup switch at on Sweet Home Alabama? It's in the out of phase position right, but is it in the 2nd or 4th slot?Fender began installing the 5-way in 1977...so all of us in the early 70s had to wedge that switch so we could get the bridge & middle pickups together. I used the bridge and middle pickups, then switched to the bridge.
As far as settings on the Marshall amp I used, I can't remember. Cranked amps in the studio can sound different on tape. I had the Marshall up pretty loud in the studio but that Strat I used had WEAK pickups. It's a BAD guitar...I still have it.
I had some time to kill in the truck yesterday so I listened to that solo for first time in years. I kept hitting the rewind button. The solo was so off the wall it HAD to come to me in a dream. Oh, to be young and inspired!
And yet as BRILLIANT as Steve Gaines was, he chose to play his solo to ALABAMA in the key of D. That just AMAZES me that he couldn't hear how WRONG that was. Oh well...Mike Bloomfield thought it was in D, too.
Q - What are you more proud of: Sweet Home Alabama
1} Intro?
2} Solo?I've never taken credit for the solo. The dream, you know. In an interview with some college students 2 months ago, I told them it was a good thing I dreamt the solos...they were far better than anything I could've come up with on my own!
The intro has paid the rent since 1975. I am quite proud of it...keeping in mind it was also a 'gift' from Above!
Q - Do you ever hear Sweet Home Alabama on the radio and think "AGAIN?"I listen to it every time.
Q - Is it my imagination or is someone chuckling/snickering right when you start counting off for SHA?? I keep hearing somthing there."Southern Man" by Al Kooper doesn't appear until right after Ronnie's line "Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her." It's NOT at the intro.
That stuff on the intro is probably noise from the control room that made it onto Ronnie's vocal track. Coughing, laughing, etc. Kooper had a talk-back mike in the control room and that's the only place those noises came from. WOW...TALK ABOUT TRIVIA!
BTW, it's taken the state of Alabama 34 years to recognize that SHA should be the state song. Some things just take time.
Q - When you had your dream of SWEET HOME ALABAMA, were there any lyrics in place? I know you said Gary had a part that you spun off from, was wondering if Ronnie had any lyrics in place at that time or if it all came after the dream?I only remembered the chord progression and all the notes I played. The opening to the first solo (the F, C & D chords) was in the dream. So when we rehearsed it the next day, I had to tell everybody about that part, so we plugged it in. That's when Ronnie wanted to use the same chords for BOO, BOO, BOO.
Q - Did he (Allen) just mirror your part, Ed? (The rhythm guitar part)Not at all, it was more of a straight strumming with NO pickups notes whatsoever.
Watch the MCA video of us playing that song (its on youtube somewhere).
You can EASILY see what I'm talking about.
MCA Promo video - Sweet Home Alabama - Click to watch
I was going to ask you if anyone (else) ever got it all right Ed. Must be harder to play than I think because even Greg Koch doesn't get it exactly...and he's the best there is at diciphering other's licks. There are just a couple of small nuances and pull-offs that nobody gets...they pick it too much...and TOO LIGHTLY. Go look at the R&R HoF induction...prime example.
GregKoch - Sweet Home Alabama - click to playAnd if Rossington says HE wrote it...then why doesn't HE PLAY IT?
" from Germany !!!