Neil Young’s 76th birthday: A Southern man still don’t need him around

Happy birthday anyhow. Southern genteelism still rises above him puttin’ ole Alabama down.

Turn it up! You say Neil Young and I hear a blend between nails on a chalkboard and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama, where my dad was born, and the USAF sent our family a long time ago.

During the late 1990s, while on the campaign trail, former Gov. Fob James toured on our campaign bus and owner/driver, Johnny Williams, blared the song from the top-mounted speakers. Sweet Home Alabama is likely the closest thing to the state’s unofficial anthem.

Well I heard Mr Young sing about her

Well, I heard ole Neil put her down

Well, I hope Neil Young will remember

A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow

That’s what I hear when anyone mentions the name “Neil Young.”

The band members who wrote Sweet Home Alabama went after him about two songs, Southern Man, and Alabama.

Regardless, happy birthday, Neil Young.

You regained some respectability when you joined in with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roger McGuinn, Eric Clapton, and of course, George Harrison for My Back Pages.

Like I said, Young did himself a favor in my eyes when he participated in this 30-year anniversary playing of My Back Pages. Perhaps when he wrote his two songs about the South, he was so much older then, and is younger than that now.