100 Greatest Southern Songs (long)

[Intheway]

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution website

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#

scroll 3/4 of the way down, the list opens in a separate window which
can't be linked directly.

A lot of it off decade, even off decadeS as I have crossposted to all
three groups, but really eclectic and some of the comments could start
raging flamewars all by themselves

Fred

1. "Strange Fruit" -- Billie Holiday (1939). Atrocity becomes bitter
poetry in this anti-lynching song written by a Jewish schoolteacher and
union activist from New York named Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allan).
When Billie Holiday took it on, it became one of the most powerful
pieces of popular music ever recorded. The chilling images are made
even more horrifying by Holiday's reportorial, matter-of-fact delivery.
2. "Summertime" -- written by George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose
Heyward (1935). Our favorite version is by jazz goddess Sarah Vaughan,
who sings smooth and slow, capturing the pace of life in a land where
time is marked by jumping fish and tall cotton.
3. "A Change Is Gonna Come" -- Sam Cooke (1964). At once fearful and
hopeful, this posthumously released song captures the long-standing
Southern tension between running away and standing your ground.
4. "Mississippi Goddam" -- Nina Simone (1964). A civil rights polemic
fueled by generations' worth of anger.
5. "We Shall Overcome" -- Originally titled "I Shall Overcome" by
Charles A. Tindley (1900); later rewritten by Guy Carawan. Its simple
lyrics hardly leap from the page. But seeing and hearing a group of
people sing those words -- arms crossed over their chests, hands linked
together -- it becomes an enduring source of strength.
6. "Dixie" -- written by Daniel Decatur Emmett (1859). A minstrel song
written by a Northerner that was later adopted by soldiers and
supporters of the Confederacy. It has a past fraught with racial
tension that assures continuing controversy, but the lyrics themselves
are largely free of such baggage. It's all in the context.
7. "Rocky Top" -- The Osborne Brothers (1968). It sounds like a
traditional bluegrass tune, but it was written by pop and country
songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the married team behind many
Everly Brothers' hits. Boudleaux, a classically trained violinist, once
played with the Atlanta Symphony.
8. "Rosa Parks" -- OutKast (1998). New York-spawned hip-hop takes a
seat on the front porch as its country cousins Dre and Big Boi spin a
wickedly melodic tale over an acoustic guitar, a harmonica and a knee
slap.
9. "Georgia on My Mind" -- Ray Charles (1960). Thanks to the late,
great Albany, Ga., native's wonderfully earnest delivery, this old,
sweet song -- like Charles -- will forever stay on our minds.
10. "Coat of Many Colors" -- Dolly Parton (1971). A poignant tale of
Parton's dirt-poor but love-rich upbringing in the East Tennessee
mountains. It would have sounded weepy coming from anyone else, but
Parton turns sadness into sublime beauty.
11. "Coal Miner's Daughter" -- Loretta Lynn (1971). An expression of
pride, a tribute to her hard-working father and a tough-edged piece of
country history.
12. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" -- The Band (1969). Told from
the perspective of a sympathetic Confederate man named Virgil, the song
gives defeated Southerners dignity.
13. "Grandma's Hands" -- Bill Withers (1971). Withers' weathered story
about a wise elder makes us all wish we had this kind of grandma --
especially one who would scold our parents for wrongly spanking us.
14. "Sweet Home Alabama" -- Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974). Like "Dixie," this
song is beloved and reviled in equal measure. For every person claiming
this song defends a racist legacy, there's someone to point out the
"boo, boo, boo" that shadows "in Birmingham they love the governor" and
a loving tribute to an
African-American bluesman ("The Ballad of Curtis Loew") that comes four
songs later on the band's sophomore album, "Second Helping."
15. "Ramblin' Man" -- The Allman Brothers Band (1973). Chugging drums,
classic guitar licks and lyrics about a Georgia gambler who "wound up
on the wrong end of a gun."
16. "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" -- Otis Redding (1967). What new
whistler doesn't attempt the bridge of this wistful classic from the
soulful Dawson, Ga., native?
17. "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973).
Never mind that it was originally titled "Midnight Plane to Houston,"
that it was first recorded by Cissy Houston and it begins "Mmmmm, L.A.
...," there's simply no denying this song, from these Atlanta natives,
for this list.
18. "Carolina in My Mind" -- James Taylor (1968). Not just the name of
an exhibit in a Chapel Hill, N.C., museum -- after all, the
singer/songwriter is one of its native sons -- this makes you "see the
sunshine ... feel the moonshine ... just like a friend of mine."
19. "The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)" -- Stephen Foster (1851).
Who says Florida's not part of the South?
20. "Rainy Night in Georgia" -- Brook Benton/Tony Joe White. This
White-penned tune is one of the most perfect musical expressions of
melancholy, with the protagonist so down he feels like it's raining all
over the world.
21. "Tennessee" -- Arrested Development (1992). The same year most of
the hip-hop world fell under the spell of Dr. Dre's gangster rap
classic "The Chronic," this Atlanta-based group in overalls conjured a
thoughtful, rickety antidote from the other coast.
22. "Love Shack" -- The B-52's (1989). A bouncy trip down the Atlanta
Highway that leads to a hopping house party beneath a rusted tin roof.
23. "Nutbush City Limits" -- Ike and Tina Turner (1973). The sound of a
woman determined to pave her golden avenue of dreams out of the red
dirt roads of her beginning.
24. "Outfit" -- Drive-By Truckers (2003). A poignant bit of
father-to-son advice: "Don't call what you're wearing an outfit/Don't
ever say your car is broke/Don't worry 'bout losing your accent/A
Southern man tells better jokes."
25. "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home?" -- Joe South (1969). You could
probably fill this list with tunes about exiled Southerners longing for
home, but few capture that lonesome homesickness with the potency
packed into a single line of this one: "All God's children get weary
when they roam."
26. "Hey Porter" -- Johnny Cash (1951). A man traveling on a Southbound
train is just about dying to cross the Mason-Dixon Line.
27. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" -- Hank Williams (1949). If you've
ever been way out in the rural South, especially late at night, you
know just how the man feels.
28. "Back Water Blues" -- Bessie Smith (1927). This flood story is so
vivid, you can practically feel the water rising up to your waist.
29. "I Can't Stand the Rain" -- Ann Peebles (1971). Smoky and deeply
Southern Memphis soul from a woman who has been called the female Al
Green.
30. "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" -- The Charlie Daniels Band
(1979). Southern music is rife with characters beating (or occasionally
joining) Satan. This time, the fiddler triumphs.
31. "Rednecks" -- Randy Newman (1974). A scathing anti-racism satire
and the lead track on "Good Old Boys," a superb concept album about the
South.
32. "Get Low" -- Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz featuring the Ying
Yang Twins (2002). As embarrassing as it is easy to sing along to, this
naughty nursery rhyme firmly established the hip-hop subgenre now known
as crunk music.
33. "Seminole Wind" -- John Anderson (1992). A heartfelt paean to the
damaged Florida wetlands by one of the countriest of country artists.
34. "Elevators (Me and You)" -- OutKast (1996). The best song ever to
mention riding MARTA.
35. "Blue Yodel No. 1" -- Jimmie Rodgers (1927). One of country music's
earliest million-sellers captures the mixture of honky-tonk and
holiness that runs through all of the music of the first inductee into
the Country Music Hall of Fame.
36. "My Home Is in the Delta" -- Muddy Waters (1964). The blues
master's voice is so booming that it seems to have been recorded in a
boxcar.
37. "Blue Moon of Kentucky" -- Bill Monroe (1947). A timeless piece of
Americana, sung with a voice sharp enough to cut glass.
38. "Crossroad Blues" -- Robert Johnson (1936). As if the story of the
father of the blues selling his soul on the crossroads to be a better
guitarist weren't haunting enough, there's this.
39. "My Clinch Mountain Home" -- Carter Family (1929). The Clinch
Mountains of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee are the
cradle of country music, the home territory of both the Carter Family
and the Stanley Brothers.
40. "Love and Happiness" -- Al Green (1972). That opening stomp on what
sounds like a shack floor, that wailing organ, that bluesy strum of the
rhythm guitar, that bone-shaking moan -- that's Southern.
41. "Comin' From Where I'm From" -- Anthony Hamilton (2003).
Stick-to-your-ribs soul from the North Carolina native who gave us
"Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens."
42. "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" -- Bob Dylan
(1966). A seven-minute tear of Southern surrealism featuring railroad
gin, a senator's wedding, a pushy dancer and a cursing preacher.
43. "In the Pines" -- Leadbelly (1944). A haunting tale from a
folk-blues legend, sometimes known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
or "Black Girl." Its origins are unclear, but most sources trace it to
the Southern Appalachians as far back as the 1870s.
44. "Ode to Billie Joe" -- Bobbie Gentry (1967). The sound is as hazy
and humid as a Delta summer, and folks still puzzle over what the
narrator and Billie Joe McAllister were tossing into the muddy water
beneath the Tallahatchie Bridge and why Billie Joe soon followed.
45. "Southern Hospitality" -- Ludacris (2000). A "mouth full of
platinum" eating "dirty South bread ... Catfish fried up/Dirty South
fed!" Come on now -- you can almost smell the region.
46. "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" -- Vicki Lawrence
(1973). Carol Burnett's sidekick came into her own with this lone hit.
But talk about dim -- shortly after her husband wrote this curiously
bouncy murder tale, they divorced.
47. "Harper Valley PTA" -- Jeannie C. Riley (1968). The story song and
gossip are both Southern staples, and this Tom T. Hall song tosses some
well-aimed boulders at busybodies who live in very fragile glass
houses.
48. "Goin' Down South" -- R.L. Burnside (1968). Recorded by Atlanta
folklorist George Mitchell, a young Burnside heads toward a place where
"chilly wind don't blow."
49. "Come on in My Kitchen" -- Robert Johnson (1936-37). Though
originally composed and performed by blues giant Johnson, he never made
the title's five words sound as sensuous as Cassandra Wilson managed on
her 1993 album "Blue Light 'Til Dawn.'"
50. "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" -- Flatt and Scruggs (1949). Not only a
bluegrass landmark, but the theme to the epic gangster flick "Bonnie
and Clyde."
51. "Moon River" -- Johnny Mercer/Henry Mancini (1961). It's forever
identified as the theme from the Audrey Hepburn film "Breakfast at
Tiffany's," but it was written by Savannah native Mercer (with Henry
Mancini) and inspired by the river that ran behind his house on
Burnside Island. It's now called Moon River.
52. "Graceland" -- Paul Simon (1986). A New Yorker gets road trip
fever, heading through the Delta and up to Elvis' house.
53. "Statesboro Blues" -- Blind Willie McTell (1928). Some recite
prayers, but at Duane Allman's funeral, his fellow Allman band members
performed this Blind Willie McTell original -- with Dickey Betts
playing Duane's guitar. (After all, it was the song Duane played over
and over again when he was teaching himself how to play the bottleneck
slide guitar.)
54. "Po Folks" -- Nappy Roots (2002). Underrated Kentucky hip-hop on a
favorite Southern theme: poverty.
55. "Hickory Wind" -- The Byrds/Gram Parsons (1968). A wistful ode by
the Waycross-raised godfather of alt-country that begins with the
simple yet evocative, "In South Carolina, there are many tall pines."
Recorded during his short tenure with the Byrds, which produced the
seminal country-rock classic "Sweetheart of the Rodeo."
56. "My Window Faces the South" -- Bob Wills (1946). Another jaunty
tale of an exile longing for the South, but he's "never frownin' or
down in the mouth" because at least his window faces south.
57. "Alabama" -- Neil Young (1972). An outspoken Canadian tries to save
a U.S. state.
58. "Greenville" -- Lucinda Williams (1998). Williams' distinctive
twang sounds both strong and regretful as she dismisses a lover with
anger issues. Fed up, she tells him to "just go on back to Greenville."
59. "Free Bird" -- Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973). It might be an overplayed
piece of Southern rock history, but it's still a bonafide classic.
60. "Southern Nights" -- Glen Campbell (1977). Alright jokester, get
that wicked mug shot out of your head a minute, and picture "Sou-thern
skies/Have you eee-ver noticed Sou-thern skies?/It's precious beauty
lies just beyond the eye/It goes running through your soul?"
61. "Orange Blossom Special," written by Ervin T. Rouse (1938-1939). A
fella named Chubby Wise sometimes gets co-credit for this support beam
in the house of Americana. For those inclined to learn the whole story,
there's a book called "Orange Blossom Boys: The Untold Story of Ervin
T. Rouse, Chubby Wise And The World's Most Famous Fiddle Tune."
62. "Down in the Boondocks" -- Billy Joe Royal/Joe South (1965). Billy
Joe Royal took it into the Top 10, but this
starcrossed-lovers-gone-country tale was written by under-heralded
Atlantan Joe South.
63. "On and On" -- Erykah Badu (1997). Badu's voice here reminds us of
Billie Holiday's muddy, weary twang.
64. "Sweet Southern Comfort" -- Buddy Jewell (2003). Well lookee here,
the "Nashville Star" winner done sung himself a minor classic.
65. "South of Cincinnati" -- Dwight Yoakam (1986). A mournful country
lament from Yoakam's debut album, "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.," about
lovers divided by the Ohio River, pride and 14 long, lonely years.
66. "Blue Sky" -- Allman Brothers (1972). As much a calming meditation
as it is a Southern rock melody, this tune was written by Dickie Betts
for his then-girlfriend, Sandy "Bluesky" Wabegijig. It was also the
first Allmans' song that Betts sang lead on.
67. "Ugly" -- Bubba Sparxxx (2001). Undeniable "Bubba chatter" over
beat king Timbaland's percussion equaled Athens' first major entry onto
the hip-hop scene.
68. "Welcome to Atlanta" -- Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris (2001).
Not a great song out of context, but ever since this anthem announced
ATL as the place to be, the city's hip-hop scene has never looked back.
69. "Oh, Atlanta" -- Alison Krauss (1995). Originally recorded by
British rockers Bad Company and written by guitarist Mick Ralphs, this
song was resuscitated by Krauss' crystalline soprano and her strangely
twisted pronunciation of "Georgia."
70. "Deep Down in Florida" -- Muddy Waters (1977). You can almost feel
the humidity.
71. "That's What I Like About the South" -- Bob Wills and His Texas
Playboys (1942). A rhyming dictionary gone wonderfully haywire, where
"Alabamy" goes with "mammy" and "hammy," and "shakey" with "mistakey."
72. "Dixie Chicken" -- Little Feat (1973). A woman who's been around
the block several times takes our narrator for a ride. He's suckered in
by her seductive refrain: "If you'll be my Dixie Chicken, I'll be your
Tennessee Lamb." Bandleader Lowell George was born and raised in
Southern California, but you'd never know it from Southern-fried tunes
like this.
73. "Tennessee Waltz" -- Patti Page (1950). Now 78, Oklahoman Page was
the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and this sweet and simple
tune, penned by Country Music Hall of Famer Pee Wee King and Tennessee
native Redd Stewart, was her biggest hit.
74. "Southern Accents" -- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1985). Sure,
Petty became a national star. But this song takes you back to his
countrified roots.
75. "Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya" -- Poison Clan (1992). A strip club
classic -- surprise, surprise.
76. "Patches" -- Clarence Carter (1970). One of those weepers about
being poor that's measured not by grades, not by stars, but by the
number of handkerchiefs you use while listening to it.
77. "Cell Therapy" -- Goodie Mob (1995). Among the first Southern
hip-hop songs to insist that this region's artists know just as much
about storytelling as booty-shaking.
78. "Betty Lonely" -- Vic Chesnutt (1995). Critically beloved Athens
singer-songwriter Chesnutt's sad account of a woman living "in a duplex
of stucco on the north bank of a brackish river" who "will always think
in Spanish" is so Floridian that you can feel the heat and humidity and
see the Spanish moss.
79. "No Depression" --Uncle Tupelo (1990). An Illinois trio messes with
an A.P. Carter song, and in the process helps create the punk-roots
sub-genre known as alternative country.
80. "Nann" -- Trick Daddy (1998). The title is a generations-old slang
word ("You don't know nann about great Southern songs!"), and the song
an unofficial introduction to sassy pin-up Trina, who conducts a
hilariously bitter exchange with underappreciated Miami rapper Trick
Daddy.
81. "Return of the Grievous Angel" -- Gram Parsons (1973). The Grievous
Angel -- aka late Waycross-reared alt-country godfather Parsons --
heads west to grow up with the country, but the 20,000 roads he travels
all lead right back home.
82. "Birmingham" -- Randy Newman (1974). An ode to "the greatest city
in Alabam'," featuring factory work, a wife named Marie and a big black
dog named Dan.
83. "Blackbird" -- Dionne Farris (1994). With just a countrified
acoustic guitar backing her, this outstanding Atlanta vocalist
transforms the original -- by four white British guys better known as
the Beatles -- into a full symphony of inspiration for black women
everywhere.
84. "Evangeline" -- Emmylou Harris (1981). The Band's Robbie Robertson
wrote this tale of a wronged woman standing "on the banks of the mighty
Mississippi," but Harris infused it with such epic grandeur that it
became hers.
85. "High Water (for Charley Patton)" -- Bob Dylan (2001). An
apocalyptic, banjo-driven companion piece to Bessie Smith's flood
lament "Back Water Blues."
86. "Just Kickin' It" -- Xscape (1993). The loping "Let's Do It Again"
sample and the harmonies this foursome generate sound like Sunday
mornings in church and Sunday afternoons in the rocking chair all at
the same time.
87. "Georgia Rhythm" -- Atlanta Rhythm Section (1976). The
"band-on-the-road" genre gets a Southern twist as the hometown boys
pass around the bottle, crank up their trusty Gibsons and tear up
another town.
88. "If Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie" -- Hank Williams Jr. (1982).
Sample lyric: "If they don't have a Grand Ole Opry, like they do in
Tennessee/Just send me to Hell or New York City, it'd be about the same
to me."
89. "Wait" -- Ying Yang Twins (2005). Down-South lasciviousness from
two wild, gold-toothed guys who -- with this song -- finally earned
applause from serious hip-hop critics.
90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much
more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.
91. "Red Clay Halo" -- Gillian Welch (2001). A country girl damns the
dirt that stains her clothes and cakes under her nails.
92. "In Da Wind" -- Trick Daddy, Cee-Lo and Big Boi (2002). Try as they
might to deny it, can self-professed "sneaky ol' freaky ol' geechee ?
collard green, neckbone-eatin" guys be anything other than Southern?
93. "Memphis" -- Chuck Berry (1959). Rock 'n' roll was born in the
South, and Chuck Berry is one of its daddies. In this song, he's
6-year-old Marie's daddy, trying to phone his little girl who lives
"just a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge."
94. "Stars Fell on Alabama" -- written by Mitchell Parish and Frank
Perkins (1934). Lazy and luxurious, like a night spent lying in the
grass, gazing skyward. Billie Holiday gave us one of the best versions.
95. "People Everyday" -- Arrested Development (1992). One of hip-hop's
most eloquent discussions on some of the ignorance in hip-hop culture.
96. "Can't You See" -- Marshall Tucker Band (1973). The best Southern
rock tune of the early '70s that wasn't an Allman Brothers Band or
Lynyrd Skynyrd track. An unforgettable acoustic guitar riff, the
bracing sting of electric guitar and a forlorn flute send this
mean-woman blues song soaring into the mountains.
97. "Chattahoochee" -- Alan Jackson (1992). Proudly corny country.
98. "Git Up, Git Out" -- OutKast with Goodie Mob (1994). Before it was
sampled in Macy Gray's first single, "Do Something," this was an
underground hip-hop favorite -- your mama's admonitions set to music.
99. "Maps and Legends" -- R.E.M. (1985). The Athens quartet's first few
albums are as saturated with Southern imagery as the kudzu-draped cover
of the band's full-length debut, "Murmur." This sweetly swaying tune,
dedicated to Summerville artist the Rev. Howard Finster, is from album
No. 3, "Fables of the Reconstruction."
100. "Mistress" -- Caroline Herring (2003). A heart-wrenching song told
from the perspective of a slave whose master -- and lover-- is dying.

[Scarlotti]

Here are some of my favorites:

Crystal Gayle
MISS THE MISSISSIPPI
TENNESSEE
TENNESSEE NIGHTS
A gorgeous trio of songs as only Crystal can sing them.
GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Frankie Laine's version is the definitive one IMO, but Crystal's is
quite beautiful and includes and introduction and exit not on Frank's.

Al Jolson
ROCK-A-BYE YOUR BABY (WITH A DIXIE MELODY)
It's got to be one of the greatest records of the 20th century.
Many of Jolie's biggest hits were set in southern locales: CAROLINA IN
THE MORNING, SWANEE, MAMMY, etc.
IS IT TRUE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT DIXIE? w/The Mills Brothers
Phil Harris' version of this is great as well.
WAITING FOR THE ROBERT E. LEE
Great as this song is, I prefer the similarly themed DOWN YONDER by
Champ Butler.
MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME

From 1950 - Jolson's final album was a collection of Stephen Foster

songs. If ever a singer was meant for Foster, it was Jolson!

Patti Page
TENNESSEE WALTZ
BRAND NEW TENNESSEE WALTZ
The biggest song of the 50s and it's modern sequel.
MISTER AND MISSISSIPPI

Frankie Laine
NEW ORLEANS
Frank recorded 2 different songs by this title. The first is my
favorite; the second is a pre-Animals version of HOUSE OF THE RISING
SUN, and is pretty d__n good as well.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO MISS NEW ORLEANS
Frankie did a series of New Orleans themed songs as part of an album
with Jo Stafford.
They duet on some of the songs (FLOATIN' DOWN TO COTTON TOWN, WAY DOWN
YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS, BASIN STREET BLUES) and take others solo. The
above two are Frank's solos.
STARS FELL ON ALABAMA w/Buck Clayton

From the great JAZZ SPECTACULAR album. Frankie's (which he's said he

uses as a horn) voice perfectly complements and plays off against
Clayton's trumpet.
ROCKS AND GRAVEL
Southern chain gang song that mentions Georgia ("Georgie"). If I had
to limit myself to 10 songs as my all-time favorites (an impossibility)
this one would have to be included.
WHEN IT'S SLEEPY TIME DOWN SOUTH
Louis Armstrong is one of Frankie's idols, and he's redone quite a
number of Armstrong songs over the years. This is one of his best.
He's also done a fair number of Southern songs including: THAT'S HOW
RHYTHM WAS BORN, CARRY ME BACK TO OLD VIRGINNEY (2 versions which,
while in vastly different styles, are both much more uptempo than the
piano version I learned to play as a child), and JAMBALAYA.

Jo Stafford
JAMBALAYA
The definitive version. Same song, but of a much earlier vintage than
Frankie Laine's.
MEMPHIS BLUES
Part of her amazing BALLAD OF THE BLUES album.

Kay Starr
BONAPARTE'S RETREAT
This one's really been growing on me over the past year.
MISSISSIPPI
Different song from the Crystal number of the same name.
SHARE CROPPIN' BLUES

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
Johnny Horton's great late 50s song.

Dinah Shore
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY
There are two great versions of this one. Amanda Baker does the other.
It's the same song as the Les Brown/Doris Day hit from the 40s, only
with an additional verse that sets it in Nashville -- it also alludes
to a couple of songs from the mid-50s which date it as an add-on to the
original.
DIXIE
I haven't heard many artists do this song, although I had the music and
complete lyrics in a childhood songbook. Dinah's love for the
Southland definitely comes through on this one. As noted in the
article above, the song's bad reputation (at least in the North) is
undeserved.

SUMMERTIME
My favorite version of this great standard is by Ella Fitzgerald.

I'm surprised that the author considers PATCHES as "Southern." It's
set in a shanty town in a coal mining community, but could just as
easily be a coal mining town in Pennsylvania as one in the South.
(Dickie Lee owns it, btw.)

CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO - Glenn Miller, natch.

I could keep going on this one, but it's getting very late.

[Roger Ford]

On 16 Sep 2005 00:48:17 -0700, "Scarlotti"

Post by Scarlotti
I'm surprised that the author considers PATCHES as "Southern." It's
set in a shanty town in a coal mining community, but could just as
easily be a coal mining town in Pennsylvania as one in the South.
(Dickie Lee owns it, btw.)

GUFFAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROGER FORD
-----------------------
"Spam Free Zone" - to combat unwanted automatic spamming I have added
an extra "b" in my e-mail address (***@bblueyonder.co.uk).
Please delete same before responding.Thank you!

[RWC]

On 16 Sep 2005 00:48:17 -0700, "Scarlotti"

Post by Scarlotti
I'm surprised that the author considers PATCHES as "Southern." It's
set in a shanty town in a coal mining community, but could just as
easily be a coal mining town in Pennsylvania as one in the South.
(Dickie Lee owns it, btw.)

Mike, my Clarence Carter record opens with:

"I was born and raised down in Alabama
On a farm way back up in the woods
I was so ragged folks used to call me Patches"

Apart from this, let's be honest, your response was not in keeping
with Fred's intelligent and inspired post. Am I wrong?


Geoff

[Scarlotti]

Apparently it's a different song. Don't know Clarence C. .

Apart from that, Fred simply copied and pasted a list from the Atlanta
Journal Constitution website. I don't see what's so
inspired/intelligent about that (either on Fred's part or in the list
itself).

[JGM]

Post by Intheway

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution website

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#

Just a few random comments:

- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

- The inclusion of the recent hip-hop songs immediately makes this
list suspect and useless in a couple of years, like the "Top 100 songs
of all time" polls that put this month's big hit in the top 10.

- Only one song from the best southern artist of the past 20 years,
Lucinda Williams, and not an outstanding one at that -- nearly any of
her songs could have qualified here, but if I had to pick only one, it
would have been "Pineola".

- Alison Krause's version of Bad Company's song called "Oh Atlanta"
but not Little Feat's song of the same name?

- No "Memphis in the Meantime" or "Walking in Memphis" -- maybe
Atlanta's version of the "South" doesn't extend that far West.

- No cajun or zydeco, not even "Born on the Bayou" -- guess the grits
and the gris-gris don't mix.

JGM

[Intheway]

Post by JGM
- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

I guess they figured putting "Alabama" on the list met the minimum
daily requirement of Neil Young. :)

Post by JGM
- The inclusion of the recent hip-hop songs immediately makes this
list suspect and useless in a couple of years, like the "Top 100 songs
of all time" polls that put this month's big hit in the top 10.

The highest rated hip-hop is #21 - "Tennessee" by Arrested Development.
This record is already 13 years old, and to a great degree I think it
refutes your argument that hip hop is a passsing fad. I heard it again
on the radio just this week, and it still catches the ear. The rest of
the rap and hip-hop songs on the list appear to be hometown choices.

Post by JGM
- Only one song from the best southern artist of the past 20 years,
Lucinda Williams, and not an outstanding one at that -- nearly any of
her songs could have qualified here, but if I had to pick only one, it
would have been "Pineola".

Agreed. Bettye LaVette does an amazing interpretation of Williams'
"Joy" on her new CD, which will be released on the 27th.

Post by JGM
- Alison Krause's version of Bad Company's song called "Oh Atlanta"
but not Little Feat's song of the same name?

Like with Young, I guess they are limiting songs by non-Southerners to
one per artist.

Post by JGM
- No "Memphis in the Meantime" or "Walking in Memphis" -- maybe
Atlanta's version of the "South" doesn't extend that far West.

In the same vein, Big House's "Sunday In Memphis" would have worked
here, too.

Post by JGM
- No cajun or zydeco, not even "Born on the Bayou" -- guess the grits
and the gris-gris don't mix.

There are Louisiana and Texas lists at the same website, but I haven't
checked them out yet. I suspect your will get your cajun and zydeco
there. The Foo Fighters did a pretty convincing version of "Bayou" on
the Katrina telethon (where letting Dr. John close things with "Walkin'
to New Orleans" was the smartest thing they did all night).

One recent song they could have easily included on the list is Marc
Broussard's "Home," although it is the video that gives it most of its
Southern context. If you don't know the song, it really is worth a
five minute visit to the website.

http://bartlettmedia.com/crossroads/index.html

Most of the video was shot around Lake Pontchartrain, and I'm told the
specific location houses have been destroyed. Broussard and his band
were on the road when the hurricane hit.

Fred

[Intheway]

Self-correction on the highest hip-hop. "Rosa Parks" is placed higher
than "Tennessee." My comments on "Tennessee" still stand, and "Rosa
Parks" is also a long term winner in my opinion.

Fred

Post by Intheway

Post by JGM
- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

I guess they figured putting "Alabama" on the list met the minimum
daily requirement of Neil Young. :)

Post by JGM
- The inclusion of the recent hip-hop songs immediately makes this
list suspect and useless in a couple of years, like the "Top 100 songs
of all time" polls that put this month's big hit in the top 10.

The highest rated hip-hop is #21 - "Tennessee" by Arrested Development.
This record is already 13 years old, and to a great degree I think it
refutes your argument that hip hop is a passsing fad. I heard it again
on the radio just this week, and it still catches the ear. The rest of
the rap and hip-hop songs on the list appear to be hometown choices.

Post by JGM
- Only one song from the best southern artist of the past 20 years,
Lucinda Williams, and not an outstanding one at that -- nearly any of
her songs could have qualified here, but if I had to pick only one, it
would have been "Pineola".

Agreed. Bettye LaVette does an amazing interpretation of Williams'
"Joy" on her new CD, which will be released on the 27th.

Post by JGM
- Alison Krause's version of Bad Company's song called "Oh Atlanta"
but not Little Feat's song of the same name?

Like with Young, I guess they are limiting songs by non-Southerners to
one per artist.

Post by JGM
- No "Memphis in the Meantime" or "Walking in Memphis" -- maybe
Atlanta's version of the "South" doesn't extend that far West.

In the same vein, Big House's "Sunday In Memphis" would have worked
here, too.

Post by JGM
- No cajun or zydeco, not even "Born on the Bayou" -- guess the grits
and the gris-gris don't mix.

There are Louisiana and Texas lists at the same website, but I haven't
checked them out yet. I suspect your will get your cajun and zydeco
there. The Foo Fighters did a pretty convincing version of "Bayou" on
the Katrina telethon (where letting Dr. John close things with "Walkin'
to New Orleans" was the smartest thing they did all night).
One recent song they could have easily included on the list is Marc
Broussard's "Home," although it is the video that gives it most of its
Southern context. If you don't know the song, it really is worth a
five minute visit to the website.
http://bartlettmedia.com/crossroads/index.html
Most of the video was shot around Lake Pontchartrain, and I'm told the
specific location houses have been destroyed. Broussard and his band
were on the road when the hurricane hit.
Fred

[Cathy D]

Post by Intheway
There are Louisiana and Texas lists at the same website, but I haven't
checked them out yet. I suspect your will get your cajun and zydeco
there. The Foo Fighters did a pretty convincing version of "Bayou" on
the Katrina telethon (where letting Dr. John close things with "Walkin'
to New Orleans" was the smartest thing they did all night).

The original post must have missed my server as I don't recall seeing
it. Could someone repost it or direct me to the website the list came
from? Thanks!

Cathy :)

[Intheway]

Post by Cathy D

Post by Intheway
There are Louisiana and Texas lists at the same website, but I haven't
checked them out yet. I suspect your will get your cajun and zydeco
there. The Foo Fighters did a pretty convincing version of "Bayou" on
the Katrina telethon (where letting Dr. John close things with "Walkin'
to New Orleans" was the smartest thing they did all night).

The original post must have missed my server as I don't recall seeing
it. Could someone repost it or direct me to the website the list came
from? Thanks!
Cathy :)

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#

Scroll down 3/4 of the page to the "100 Greatest Songs" box. A click
there will open a new page which cannot be linked directly.

Fred

Post by Cathy D
--
-------------------------------------------------
e-mail address: cathyd at empire1.net
Naturally the 'at' should be changed! :) The number also needs to be spelled
out. :)
----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----

[Cathy D]

Post by Intheway

Post by Cathy D

Post by Intheway
there. The Foo Fighters did a pretty convincing version of "Bayou" on
the Katrina telethon (where letting Dr. John close things with "Walkin'
to New Orleans" was the smartest thing they did all night).

The original post must have missed my server as I don't recall seeing
it. Could someone repost it or direct me to the website the list came
from? Thanks!
Cathy :)

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#
Scroll down 3/4 of the page to the "100 Greatest Songs" box. A click
there will open a new page which cannot be linked directly.

Thank you, Fred.

Cathy :)

[S***@aol.com]

Post by Intheway
There are Louisiana and Texas lists at the same website, but I haven't
checked them out yet.

Where are they located?

[Intheway]

Post by S***@aol.com

Post by Intheway
There are Louisiana and Texas lists at the same website, but I haven't
checked them out yet.

Where are they located?

Click on the "100 Songs" Box. When it opens, there are links to the
Texas and Louisiana lists, which are only 10 songs apiece.

I don't think you can get there through AOL.

[S***@aol.com]

Post by JGM

Post by Intheway

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution website

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#

- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

I would guess because "Southern Man" is a putdown of the South,
answered by Skynyrd saying that a Souther n man doesn't want Young
around anyhow.

[JGM]

Post by S***@aol.com

Post by JGM
- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

I would guess because "Southern Man" is a putdown of the South,
answered by Skynyrd saying that a Souther n man doesn't want Young
around anyhow.

Em. "Strange Fruit" is their #1 selection; not exactly a celebration
of Southern heritage.

JGM

[y***@yahoo.com]

JGM wrote:

<snip for brevity>

Post by JGM
Em. "Strange Fruit" is their #1 selection; not exactly a celebration
of Southern heritage.
JGM

"Strange Fruit" is an important and necessary inclusion on such a list,
but it is about as dark a subject and as gloomy as song as anyone can
name, even as it tells a terrible and necessary truth about Southern
history and character of the place.

But I don't think one of the world's 10 gloomiest songs deserve to be
at the very top of a list. Life is about celebration, and isn't this
list
a part of a celebration?

The "Volga Boatman" is probably one the greatest songs from Russia.
Should it be named #1 one a Russian list, because it is the Russian
song most people are most familiar with, especially outside of Russia?

[Bob Roman]

Post by y***@yahoo.com
"Strange Fruit" is an important and necessary inclusion on such a list,
but it is about as dark a subject and as gloomy as song as anyone can
name, even as it tells a terrible and necessary truth about Southern
history and character of the place.
But I don't think one of the world's 10 gloomiest songs deserve to be
at the very top of a list. Life is about celebration, and isn't this
list a part of a celebration?

I'd argue the opposite. Great art is always a celebration of life, no
matter how gloomy the mood it creates.

Post by y***@yahoo.com
The "Volga Boatman" is probably one the greatest songs from Russia.
Should it be named #1 one a Russian list, because it is the Russian
song most people are most familiar with, especially outside of Russia?

If it's the Paul Robeson version, I'd be satisfied with that pick.

Bob Roman

[George Carden]

Post by y***@yahoo.com
<snip for brevity>

Post by JGM
Em. "Strange Fruit" is their #1 selection; not exactly a celebration
of Southern heritage.
JGM

"Strange Fruit" is an important and necessary inclusion on such a list,
but it is about as dark a subject and as gloomy as song as anyone can
name, even as it tells a terrible and necessary truth about Southern
history and character of the place.
But I don't think one of the world's 10 gloomiest songs deserve to be
at the very top of a list. Life is about celebration, and isn't this
list
a part of a celebration?
The "Volga Boatman" is probably one the greatest songs from Russia.
Should it be named #1 one a Russian list, because it is the Russian
song most people are most familiar with, especially outside of Russia?

There are oodles of songs from the group Alabama.... "My Home's In
Alabama"..."Tennessee River" to name just a couple.

[S***@aol.com]

They have this on the list:

90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much

more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.

I've got it as 1959.

Was it out earlier and then reissued, or is the 1956 year just a
mistake?

[Jason Michael]

<***@aol.com> wrote in message news:***@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com..
.

Post by Intheway
90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much
more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.
I've got it as 1959.
Was it out earlier and then reissued, or is the 1956 year just a
mistake?

According to the All Music Guide review of the song, the Louvin Brothers
recorded the song in 1956:
http://tinyurl.com/dz5p9
from the 1956 LP "Tragic Songs of Life". It was released as a single in
1959, reaching #19 on the Billboard Country chart.
http://tinyurl.com/9hgm6

Jason

jasonmichael NOSPAM @ REMOVE canada.com

[S***@aol.com]

Post by Intheway
90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much
more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.
I've got it as 1959.
Was it out earlier and then reissued, or is the 1956 year just a
mistake?

Turns out that it's from a 1956 album originally.

[BobbyM]

Post by Intheway
90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much
more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.
I've got it as 1959.
Was it out earlier and then reissued, or is the 1956 year just a
mistake?

It appeared on an lp in '56; I'm not sure if it was released as a single at
that time.

[Jim Colegrove]

Post by Intheway
90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much
more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.

Another good version from around the same time is by the Wilburn
Brothers.

"The Knoxville Girl" can be traced back in American folk music with
tilles such as "The Wexford Girl," "The Oxford Tragedy," "The Expert
Girl," " Johnny McDowell," "The Prentice Boy," "Never Let the Devil
Get the Upper Hand of You (Carter Family version)," "Cruel Miller,"
"Printer's Boy," "Butcher/Butcher's Boy," "Hanged I Shall Be,"
"Prentice Boy," and "Poor Ex-Soldier," It can be traced back to
England, Scotland, and Ireland as "The Oxford Girl."


Jim Colegrove
http://www.thecoolgroove.com

[S***@aol.com]

Post by JGM

Post by S***@aol.com

Post by JGM
- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

I would guess because "Southern Man" is a putdown of the South,
answered by Skynyrd saying that a Souther n man doesn't want Young
around anyhow.

Em. "Strange Fruit" is their #1 selection; not exactly a celebration
of Southern heritage.

No, but that's a part of the heritage that (most of) the south now
acknowledges was wrong. Having Canadian Neil Young knock southerners is
a different story.

[Bob Roman]

Post by S***@aol.com

Post by JGM
Em. "Strange Fruit" is their #1 selection; not exactly a celebration
of Southern heritage.

No, but that's a part of the heritage that (most of) the south now
acknowledges was wrong. Having Canadian Neil Young knock southerners is
a different story.

Neil Young's "Southern Man" covers the same topic area, and I don't think
Canadians have been traditionally more disliked among rednecks than two New
York Jews and a jazz-singing black woman!

Bob Roman

[Endy9]

Post by S***@aol.com

Post by JGM

Post by Intheway

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution website

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#

- How can a list include "Sweet Home Alabama" and Randy Newman's
"Rednecks" but not Neil Young's "Southern Man"? Inexcusable.

I would guess because "Southern Man" is a putdown of the South,
answered by Skynyrd saying that a Souther n man doesn't want Young
around anyhow.

Yeah but "Alabama" by Young was even more of a put down.

[y***@yahoo.com]

Fred, I would give this list a C+ at best. Sour grapes? I sense an
Atlanta and a Georgia parochialist bias, at the very least.

How about a couple of Louis Armstrong standards (mainstays):

"Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?"
"When It's Sleepytime Down South"
(last one practically a theme of his band; indispensable, as in
I-N-D-I-S-P-E-N-S-A-B-L-E.)

Also by the Everly Brothers:

the autobiographically-themed

"Green River" (NOT the same as the Creedance Song, but a mainstay of
their concert repertoire of later years (post 1970)

"Bowling Green"

and from John Prine, about his family's southern roots, here's another
indispensable song, covered and played by many others, a well-received
folk/country/bluegrass song in its part of the world:

"Paradise"
(you know, the song with the words:..."Daddy, won't you take me back to
Muhlenberg, County, down by the Green River, where Paradise lay...."

How about "Black Water" by Doobie Brothers

How about Johnny Mercer's "Song Of The South", you know the one that
goes
"Zip-bid-dee-doo-dah, Zip-bid-dee-ay, my, my, my, what a wonderful
day..
etc." Many versions?

How about The Country Gentlemen's indispensable crisp "Fox On The Run"
with its sparkling and tasty banjo and guitar licks and bright
hook-filled sound from their landmark "Sound Off" album on Rebel
Records back in the 70's?

How about one of John Fahey's greatest resurrections of a Delta blues:
the haunting "Poor Boy A Long Way From Home" from his first (debut)
album in 1959 that made folks in the folk music world stand up and take
notice of his talent? (see "The Complete Blind Joe Death" on CD, for
reissue)

How about old jazz standard "A Porter's Love Song To A Chambermaid",
recorded, by among others: Red Norvo & his Orchestra (vocal : Mildred
Bailey)Also recorded by : Benny Carter; James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz
Band; Kenny Davern; Edegran Orch.;Lars Erstrand Quartet; Arthur
Godfrey; Marty Grosz; Bob Howard; James P. Johnson; Julia Lee; Roy
Milton; Jimmie Noone; Hot Lips Page; Andy Razaf; Sammy Rimmington & His
Band;
Bobby Short; Willie "The Lion" Smith; Ralph Sutton; Norman Thatcher;
Pinky Tomlin; Johnny Varro; Fats Waller; Washboard Rhythm Kings. ?

How about "Moon Over Miami" another old standard from the Swing and
classic pop era?

How about "Galveston" by Glen Campbell?

Not much Patsy Cline (from Winchester, Virginia) on that list, was
there?
Or Willie Nelson, almost king in Texas, the way Bruce Springsteen is
around Jersey and the Delaware Valley (or at least 10 -20 years ago for
Bruce).

Is the song/oldie "Abilene" on that list?

Anything from the great musical "Oklahoma!"?

"Kentucky Rain" from Elvis?

"Walkin' To New Orleans" - by Fats Domino?

"Tara's Theme" - the theme playing throughout the movie "Gone With The
Wind"?

"Appalachian Spring" - Aaron Copeland
(C'mon, can that quintessential and enduring piece of American music be
left off a serious list?)

"When Johnny Comes Marchin' Home", a song from the Civil War, was
reportedly song by sides supporting both sides of the firing line, when
those of supporters of Johnny Reb, or Billy Yank. Maybe that has a
place somewhere on such a list. It certainly was very important in the
1800's.

Nice try by those of the site you found, Fred, but for me, for these
and probably more songs I could think of, it's parochial if not myopic.

- Larry I.

[y***@yahoo.com]

One I'd wished I had added to my list, one song many of you will
remember if you were tuned in almost 20 years ago to the fine
multi-part TV series on the Civil War, produced by Ken Burns, with
essential commentary by late Civil Historian Shelby Foote assisting
him, and practically a theme for the whole multi-evening show, the
haunting fiddle instrumental:

"Ashokan Farewell"

[y***@yahoo.com]

"Chattanooga Choo-Choo" - Glenn Miller Orchestra, RCA, 1941

This song, incidently, was #1 on the American charts when Pearl Harbor
was bombed by the Japanese. It is probably his 2nd biggest record. It
was immensely popular.

[y***@yahoo.com]

Another way to approach a much improved list might be to start with
National Public Radio's Top 100 Songs of all time (list from all
sources, everywhere), and extract those songs from the South, about the
South, or by Southern Artists, as a basis for making up a Southern only
list. So here is 1st the NPR Top 100, and then I'll attempt to extract
the South-related ones, in which you can see, many on NPR's list, with
a Southern connection, don't make that Georgia list:

.........................................................................
The NPR 100
The most important American musical works of the 20th century

AIN'T THAT A SHAME, words/music FATS DOMINO (1955); as performed by
FATS DOMINO
ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND, words/music IRVING BERLIN (1911); as
performed by IRVING BERLIN
APPALACHIAN SPRING, AARON COPLAND (1944)
AS TIME GOES BY, words/music HERMAN HUPFELD (1931)
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN, words/music RAYWHITLEY/GENE AUTRY (1939); as
performed by GENE AUTRY
BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY, BILL MONROE (1947)
BLUE SUEDE SHOES, CARL PERKINS (1956)
BODY & SOUL, instrumental version by COLEMAN HAWKINS (1939)
BORN TO RUN (LP), BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (1975)
CHORUS LINE (musical), music MARVIN HAMLISCH/words EDWARD KLEBAN (1975)

COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER, LORETTA LYNN (1971)
CRAZY, words/music by WILLIE NELSON, performed by PATSY CLINE (1961)
DJANGO, music JOHN LEWIS; performed by MODERN JAZZ QUARTET (1955)
DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME, GUS KAHN/WILBER SCHWANDT/FABIAN ANDRE
performed by Kate Smith (1931); revived by Mama Cass Elliot (1963)
DRUMMING, STEVE REICH (1971)
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (musical), SHELDON HARNICK/JERRY BOCK (1964)
FINE & MELLOW, words/music BILLIE HOLIDAY (1940)
FIRE AND RAIN, words/music JAMES TAYLOR; as performed by JAMES TAYLOR
(1970)
FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN, music EARL SCRUGGS, performed by EARLE FLATT/
LESTER SCRUGGS and THE FOGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS (1949)
4:33, JOHN CAGE (1952)
GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY, GEORGE M. COHAN (1904)
GONE WITH THE WIND (film score), MAX STEINER (1939)
GOOD VIBRATIONS, THE BEACH BOYS (1966)
GRACELAND (LP), PAUL SIMON (1986)
GRAND CANYON SUITE, FERDE GROFE (1931)
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE, JERRY LEE LEWIS (1957)
THE GREAT PRETENDER, THE PLATTERS (1955)
GUYS & DOLLS (musical), FRANK LOESSER (prem. 1950)
HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL, ROBERT JOHNSON (1937)
HELLO DOLLY (tune), words/music JERRY HERMAN; as performed by LOUIS
ARMSTRONG (1964)
HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW, words/music C.D. MARTIN/C.H. GABRIEL; as
performed by MAHALIA JACKSON (1958)
HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN, words/music WILLIE DIXON; as performed by MUDDY
WATERS (1954)
HOUND DOG/DON'T BE CRUEL, words/music JERRY LEIBER/MIKE STOLLER; OTIS
BLACKWELL/ELVIS PRESLEY; as performed by ELVIS PRESLEY (1956)
I GOT RHYTHM, GEORGE & IRA GERSHWIN (1930)
I WALK THE LINE, words/music JOHNNY CASH; as performed by JOHNNY CASH
(1956)
I WANNA BE SEDATED, THE RAMONES (1977)
I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY, words/music HANK WILLIAMS; as performed by
HANK WILLIAMS (1949)
IN THE MOOD, words ANDY RAZAF, music JOE GARLAND (1939),
performed/recorded GLENN MILLER & HIS ORCHESTRA (1940)
(GOODNIGHT) IRENE, words/music HUDDIE LEDBETTER (LEAD BELLY) and JOHN
LOMAX (1950), as performed by THE WEAVERS
KIND OF BLUE (LP), MILES DAVIS (1959)
KING PORTER STOMP, JELLY ROLL MORTON (1924)
KO KO, CHARLIE PARKER (rec. 1945)
LA BAMBA, words/music WILLIAM CLAUSON; as performed by RITCHIE VALENS
(1958)
LET'S STAY TOGETHER, words/music AL GREEN/WILLIE MITCHELL/AL JACKSON;
as performed by AL GREEN (1971)
LIGHT MY FIRE, THE DOORS (1967)
LIKE A ROLLING STONE, BOB DYLAN (1965)
A LOVE SUPREME (LP), JOHN COLTRANE (1964)
MACK THE KNIFE, words MARC BLITZSTEIN (after BERTOLT BRECHT)/music KURT
WEILL; as performed by ELLA FITZGERALD (1960)
MAYBELLENE, words/music by CHUCK BERRY, RUSS FRATTO, and ALAN FREED;
performed by CHUCK BERRY (1955)
MOOD INDIGO, DUKE ELLINGTON (1931)
MY FAIR LADY (musical), LERNER & LOWE (1956)
MY FUNNY VALENTINE, music RICHARD RODGERS/words LORENZ HART (1937)
MY GIRL, words/music by WILLIAM ROBINSON and RONALD WHITE; as performed
by THE TEMPTATIONS (1965)
NIGHT & DAY, COLE PORTER (1932)
A NIGHT IN TUNISIA, DIZZY GILLESPIE (1946)
OKLAHOMA! (musical), RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN (1943)
ONCE IN A LIFETIME, THE TALKING HEADS (1983)
ONE O'CLOCK JUMP, COUNT BASIE (1938)
OYE COMO VA, words/music TITO PUENTE (1963); recorded by SANTANA (1971)

PAPA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG, JAMES BROWN (1965)
PEGGY SUE, words/music JERRY ALLISON/BUDDY HOLLY/NORMAN PETTY; as
recorded by BUDDY HOLLY (1957)
PORGY AND BESS, music GEORGE GERSHWIN/words IRA GERSHWIN/DUBOSE HEYWARD
(1935)
PSYCHO (film score), BERNARD HERMANN (1960)
PURPLE HAZE, JIMI HENDRIX (1967)
RAPPER'S DELIGHT, SUGARHILL GANG (1979)
RESPECT, words/music OTIS REDDING (1965); as performed by ARETHA
FRANKLIN (1967)
RHAPSODY IN BLUE, GEORGE GERSHWIN (1924); orchestrated FERDE GROFE
(1926)
ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK, words/music MAX FREEDMAN and JIMMY DE KNIGHT
(1953); first recorded by BILL HALEY (1955)
ROUND MIDNIGHT, music THELONIUS MONK (1946)
(GET YOUR KICKS ON) ROUTE 66, words/music BOB TROUP (1946); performed
by NAT KING COLE
ST. LOUIS BLUES, words/music W.C. HANDY (1914); as performed by BESSIE
SMITH
SHAFT (single), ISAAC HAYES (1971)
SHOWBOAT (musical), HAMMERSTEIN/KERN (1927)
SING, SING, SING, words/music LOUIS PRIMA (1936), as performed by BENNY
GOODMAN & HIS ORCHESTRA at Carnegie Hall 1938
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (film musical), words/music ARTHUR FREED/NACIO HERB
BROWN (1952)
SITTIN' ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY, words/music OTIS REDDING and STEVE
CROPPER (1968); recorded by OTIS REDDING
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT, NIRVANA (1991)
STAND BY YOUR MAN, words/music TAMMY WYNNETTE and BILLY SHERRILL
(1968); as performed by TAMMY WYNNETTE
STARDUST, words MITCHELL PARISH/music HOAGY CARMICHAEL (1929)
SYMPHONY OF PSALMS, IGOR STRAVINSKY (1948)
TAKE FIVE, music PAUL DESMOND (1960); recorded by DAVE BRUBECK
TAKE MY HAND, PRECIOUS LORD, words/music THOMAS A. DORSEY (1932)
TAKE THE A TRAIN, BILLY STRAYHORN (1941), performed by DUKE ELLINGTON
ORCHESTRA
TALKING BOOK (LP), STEVIE WONDER (1972)
TAPESTRY (LP), CAROLE KING (1971)
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, WOODY GUTHRIE (1956)
TOM DOOLEY (traditional), arranged by DAVE GUARD (1958); as performed
by THE KINGSTON TRIO
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO (LP), THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (1967)
WARNER BROS. CARTOONS, music CARL STALLINGS (1940s & 1950s)
WE SHALL OVERCOME, words/music ZILPHIA HORTON, FRANK HAMILTON, GUY
CARAWAN, PETE SEEGER (1960); believed to have originated from C. ALBERT
TINDLEY'S 1901 Baptist hymn I'LL OVERCOME SOME DAY
WEST END BLUES, words by CLARENCE WILLIAMS/music by JOE OLIVER (1928);
as performed by LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS HOT FIVE
WEST SIDE STORY (musical), LEONARD BERNSTEIN/STEPHEN SONDHEIM (1957)
WHAT'D I SAY, RAY CHARLES (1959)
WHAT'S GOING ON, words/music by AL CLEVELAND, MARVIN GAYE, and RENAULDO
BENSON (1970); recorded by MARVIN GAYE
WHITE CHRISTMAS, IRVING BERLIN (1942); as performed by BING CROSBY
WILDWOOD FLOWER, CARTER FAMILY (1927)
WIZARD OF OZ (film musical), words E.Y. HARBURG/music HAROLD ARLEN
(1939)

[end quote of NPR list]

Now's let's try to extract those with a Southern connection, or a
Southern or South-connected theme:

The NPR 100
The most important American musical works of the 20th century


AIN'T THAT A SHAME, words/music FATS DOMINO (1955); as performed by
FATS DOMINO
ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND, words/music IRVING BERLIN (1911); as
performed by IRVING BERLIN
APPALACHIAN SPRING, AARON COPLAND (1944)
AS TIME GOES BY, words/music HERMAN HUPFELD (1931)
BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN, words/music RAYWHITLEY/GENE AUTRY (1939); as
performed by GENE AUTRY
BLUE MOON OF KENTUCKY, BILL MONROE (1947)
BLUE SUEDE SHOES, CARL PERKINS (1956)
COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER, LORETTA LYNN (1971)
CRAZY, words/music by WILLIE NELSON, performed by PATSY CLINE (1961)
FINE & MELLOW, words/music BILLIE HOLIDAY (1940)
FOGGY MOUNTAIN BREAKDOWN, music EARL SCRUGGS, performed by EARLE FLATT/
LESTER SCRUGGS and THE FOGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS (1949)
GONE WITH THE WIND (film score), MAX STEINER (1939)
GREAT BALLS OF FIRE, JERRY LEE LEWIS (1957)
HELLHOUND ON MY TRAIL, ROBERT JOHNSON (1937)
HELLO DOLLY (tune), words/music JERRY HERMAN; as performed by LOUIS
ARMSTRONG (1964)
HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW, words/music C.D. MARTIN/C.H. GABRIEL; as
performed by MAHALIA JACKSON (1958)
HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN, words/music WILLIE DIXON; as performed by MUDDY
WATERS (1954)
HOUND DOG/DON'T BE CRUEL, words/music JERRY LEIBER/MIKE STOLLER; OTIS
BLACKWELL/ELVIS PRESLEY; as performed by ELVIS PRESLEY (1956)
I WALK THE LINE, words/music JOHNNY CASH; as performed by JOHNNY CASH
(1956)
I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY, words/music HANK WILLIAMS; as performed by
HANK WILLIAMS (1949)
(GOODNIGHT) IRENE, words/music HUDDIE LEDBETTER (LEAD BELLY) and JOHN
LOMAX (1950), as performed by THE WEAVERS
KING PORTER STOMP, JELLY ROLL MORTON (1924)
LET'S STAY TOGETHER, words/music AL GREEN/WILLIE MITCHELL/AL JACKSON;
as performed by AL GREEN (1971)
MAYBELLENE, words/music by CHUCK BERRY, RUSS FRATTO, and ALAN FREED;
performed by CHUCK BERRY (1955)
OKLAHOMA! (musical), RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN (1943)
PEGGY SUE, words/music JERRY ALLISON/BUDDY HOLLY/NORMAN PETTY; as
recorded by BUDDY HOLLY (1957)
PORGY AND BESS, music GEORGE GERSHWIN/words IRA GERSHWIN/DUBOSE HEYWARD
(1935)
RESPECT, words/music OTIS REDDING (1965); as performed by ARETHA
FRANKLIN (1967)
ST. LOUIS BLUES, words/music W.C. HANDY (1914); as performed by BESSIE
SMITH
SHOWBOAT (musical), HAMMERSTEIN/KERN (1927)

{L.I. insert: "Old Man River" - is from this show, another essential
moving song about life in the South}

SITTIN' ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY, words/music OTIS REDDING and STEVE
CROPPER (1968); recorded by OTIS REDDING
STAND BY YOUR MAN, words/music TAMMY WYNNETTE and BILLY SHERRILL
(1968); as performed by TAMMY WYNNETTE
TAKE MY HAND, PRECIOUS LORD, words/music THOMAS A. DORSEY (1932)
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, WOODY GUTHRIE (1956)
WE SHALL OVERCOME, words/music ZILPHIA HORTON, FRANK HAMILTON, GUY
CARAWAN, PETE SEEGER (1960); believed to have originated from C. ALBERT
TINDLEY'S 1901 Baptist hymn I'LL OVERCOME SOME DAY
WEST END BLUES, words by CLARENCE WILLIAMS/music by JOE OLIVER (1928);
as performed by LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HIS HOT FIVE
WHAT'D I SAY, RAY CHARLES (1959)
WILDWOOD FLOWER, CARTER FAMILY (1927)

You'll notice some of these songs (above) from an NPR critics' list
with a Southern connection are not on the Georgia list.

[Bob Roman]

Post by Intheway
6. "Dixie" -- written by Daniel Decatur Emmett (1859). A minstrel song
written by a Northerner that was later adopted by soldiers and
supporters of the Confederacy. It has a past fraught with racial
tension that assures continuing controversy, but the lyrics themselves
are largely free of such baggage. It's all in the context.

Old Dan Emmett of Mount Vernon, Ohio is a relative of none other than...

Bob Roman

[Kent]

Post by Intheway
22. "Love Shack" -- The B-52's (1989). A bouncy trip down the Atlanta
Highway that leads to a hopping house party beneath a rusted tin roof.

This one is REALLY stretching it to call it "Southern", just because it says
"Atlanta highway." Is there any other reference to things Southern? I can't
think of one. There are dozens of country songs that would rank about this
one (like "All my Exes Live in Texas).


Kent (in the South)

[Uni]

Post by Intheway

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution website

http://www.accessatlanta.com/#
scroll 3/4 of the way down, the list opens in a separate window which
can't be linked directly.
A lot of it off decade, even off decadeS as I have crossposted to all
three groups, but really eclectic and some of the comments could start
raging flamewars all by themselves

Nice list, but you forgot Hot Smoke and Sassafras - by Bubble Puppy! :-)

Uni

Post by Intheway
Fred
1. "Strange Fruit" -- Billie Holiday (1939). Atrocity becomes bitter
poetry in this anti-lynching song written by a Jewish schoolteacher and
union activist from New York named Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allan).
When Billie Holiday took it on, it became one of the most powerful
pieces of popular music ever recorded. The chilling images are made
even more horrifying by Holiday's reportorial, matter-of-fact delivery.
2. "Summertime" -- written by George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose
Heyward (1935). Our favorite version is by jazz goddess Sarah Vaughan,
who sings smooth and slow, capturing the pace of life in a land where
time is marked by jumping fish and tall cotton.
3. "A Change Is Gonna Come" -- Sam Cooke (1964). At once fearful and
hopeful, this posthumously released song captures the long-standing
Southern tension between running away and standing your ground.
4. "Mississippi Goddam" -- Nina Simone (1964). A civil rights polemic
fueled by generations' worth of anger.
5. "We Shall Overcome" -- Originally titled "I Shall Overcome" by
Charles A. Tindley (1900); later rewritten by Guy Carawan. Its simple
lyrics hardly leap from the page. But seeing and hearing a group of
people sing those words -- arms crossed over their chests, hands linked
together -- it becomes an enduring source of strength.
6. "Dixie" -- written by Daniel Decatur Emmett (1859). A minstrel song
written by a Northerner that was later adopted by soldiers and
supporters of the Confederacy. It has a past fraught with racial
tension that assures continuing controversy, but the lyrics themselves
are largely free of such baggage. It's all in the context.
7. "Rocky Top" -- The Osborne Brothers (1968). It sounds like a
traditional bluegrass tune, but it was written by pop and country
songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the married team behind many
Everly Brothers' hits. Boudleaux, a classically trained violinist, once
played with the Atlanta Symphony.
8. "Rosa Parks" -- OutKast (1998). New York-spawned hip-hop takes a
seat on the front porch as its country cousins Dre and Big Boi spin a
wickedly melodic tale over an acoustic guitar, a harmonica and a knee
slap.
9. "Georgia on My Mind" -- Ray Charles (1960). Thanks to the late,
great Albany, Ga., native's wonderfully earnest delivery, this old,
sweet song -- like Charles -- will forever stay on our minds.
10. "Coat of Many Colors" -- Dolly Parton (1971). A poignant tale of
Parton's dirt-poor but love-rich upbringing in the East Tennessee
mountains. It would have sounded weepy coming from anyone else, but
Parton turns sadness into sublime beauty.
11. "Coal Miner's Daughter" -- Loretta Lynn (1971). An expression of
pride, a tribute to her hard-working father and a tough-edged piece of
country history.
12. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" -- The Band (1969). Told from
the perspective of a sympathetic Confederate man named Virgil, the song
gives defeated Southerners dignity.
13. "Grandma's Hands" -- Bill Withers (1971). Withers' weathered story
about a wise elder makes us all wish we had this kind of grandma --
especially one who would scold our parents for wrongly spanking us.
14. "Sweet Home Alabama" -- Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974). Like "Dixie," this
song is beloved and reviled in equal measure. For every person claiming
this song defends a racist legacy, there's someone to point out the
"boo, boo, boo" that shadows "in Birmingham they love the governor" and
a loving tribute to an
African-American bluesman ("The Ballad of Curtis Loew") that comes four
songs later on the band's sophomore album, "Second Helping."
15. "Ramblin' Man" -- The Allman Brothers Band (1973). Chugging drums,
classic guitar licks and lyrics about a Georgia gambler who "wound up
on the wrong end of a gun."
16. "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay" -- Otis Redding (1967). What new
whistler doesn't attempt the bridge of this wistful classic from the
soulful Dawson, Ga., native?
17. "Midnight Train to Georgia" -- Gladys Knight and the Pips (1973).
Never mind that it was originally titled "Midnight Plane to Houston,"
that it was first recorded by Cissy Houston and it begins "Mmmmm, L.A.
...," there's simply no denying this song, from these Atlanta natives,
for this list.
18. "Carolina in My Mind" -- James Taylor (1968). Not just the name of
an exhibit in a Chapel Hill, N.C., museum -- after all, the
singer/songwriter is one of its native sons -- this makes you "see the
sunshine ... feel the moonshine ... just like a friend of mine."
19. "The Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)" -- Stephen Foster (1851).
Who says Florida's not part of the South?
20. "Rainy Night in Georgia" -- Brook Benton/Tony Joe White. This
White-penned tune is one of the most perfect musical expressions of
melancholy, with the protagonist so down he feels like it's raining all
over the world.
21. "Tennessee" -- Arrested Development (1992). The same year most of
the hip-hop world fell under the spell of Dr. Dre's gangster rap
classic "The Chronic," this Atlanta-based group in overalls conjured a
thoughtful, rickety antidote from the other coast.
22. "Love Shack" -- The B-52's (1989). A bouncy trip down the Atlanta
Highway that leads to a hopping house party beneath a rusted tin roof.
23. "Nutbush City Limits" -- Ike and Tina Turner (1973). The sound of a
woman determined to pave her golden avenue of dreams out of the red
dirt roads of her beginning.
24. "Outfit" -- Drive-By Truckers (2003). A poignant bit of
father-to-son advice: "Don't call what you're wearing an outfit/Don't
ever say your car is broke/Don't worry 'bout losing your accent/A
Southern man tells better jokes."
25. "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home?" -- Joe South (1969). You could
probably fill this list with tunes about exiled Southerners longing for
home, but few capture that lonesome homesickness with the potency
packed into a single line of this one: "All God's children get weary
when they roam."
26. "Hey Porter" -- Johnny Cash (1951). A man traveling on a Southbound
train is just about dying to cross the Mason-Dixon Line.
27. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" -- Hank Williams (1949). If you've
ever been way out in the rural South, especially late at night, you
know just how the man feels.
28. "Back Water Blues" -- Bessie Smith (1927). This flood story is so
vivid, you can practically feel the water rising up to your waist.
29. "I Can't Stand the Rain" -- Ann Peebles (1971). Smoky and deeply
Southern Memphis soul from a woman who has been called the female Al
Green.
30. "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" -- The Charlie Daniels Band
(1979). Southern music is rife with characters beating (or occasionally
joining) Satan. This time, the fiddler triumphs.
31. "Rednecks" -- Randy Newman (1974). A scathing anti-racism satire
and the lead track on "Good Old Boys," a superb concept album about the
South.
32. "Get Low" -- Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz featuring the Ying
Yang Twins (2002). As embarrassing as it is easy to sing along to, this
naughty nursery rhyme firmly established the hip-hop subgenre now known
as crunk music.
33. "Seminole Wind" -- John Anderson (1992). A heartfelt paean to the
damaged Florida wetlands by one of the countriest of country artists.
34. "Elevators (Me and You)" -- OutKast (1996). The best song ever to
mention riding MARTA.
35. "Blue Yodel No. 1" -- Jimmie Rodgers (1927). One of country music's
earliest million-sellers captures the mixture of honky-tonk and
holiness that runs through all of the music of the first inductee into
the Country Music Hall of Fame.
36. "My Home Is in the Delta" -- Muddy Waters (1964). The blues
master's voice is so booming that it seems to have been recorded in a
boxcar.
37. "Blue Moon of Kentucky" -- Bill Monroe (1947). A timeless piece of
Americana, sung with a voice sharp enough to cut glass.
38. "Crossroad Blues" -- Robert Johnson (1936). As if the story of the
father of the blues selling his soul on the crossroads to be a better
guitarist weren't haunting enough, there's this.
39. "My Clinch Mountain Home" -- Carter Family (1929). The Clinch
Mountains of southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee are the
cradle of country music, the home territory of both the Carter Family
and the Stanley Brothers.
40. "Love and Happiness" -- Al Green (1972). That opening stomp on what
sounds like a shack floor, that wailing organ, that bluesy strum of the
rhythm guitar, that bone-shaking moan -- that's Southern.
41. "Comin' From Where I'm From" -- Anthony Hamilton (2003).
Stick-to-your-ribs soul from the North Carolina native who gave us
"Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens."
42. "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" -- Bob Dylan
(1966). A seven-minute tear of Southern surrealism featuring railroad
gin, a senator's wedding, a pushy dancer and a cursing preacher.
43. "In the Pines" -- Leadbelly (1944). A haunting tale from a
folk-blues legend, sometimes known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
or "Black Girl." Its origins are unclear, but most sources trace it to
the Southern Appalachians as far back as the 1870s.
44. "Ode to Billie Joe" -- Bobbie Gentry (1967). The sound is as hazy
and humid as a Delta summer, and folks still puzzle over what the
narrator and Billie Joe McAllister were tossing into the muddy water
beneath the Tallahatchie Bridge and why Billie Joe soon followed.
45. "Southern Hospitality" -- Ludacris (2000). A "mouth full of
platinum" eating "dirty South bread ... Catfish fried up/Dirty South
fed!" Come on now -- you can almost smell the region.
46. "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" -- Vicki Lawrence
(1973). Carol Burnett's sidekick came into her own with this lone hit.
But talk about dim -- shortly after her husband wrote this curiously
bouncy murder tale, they divorced.
47. "Harper Valley PTA" -- Jeannie C. Riley (1968). The story song and
gossip are both Southern staples, and this Tom T. Hall song tosses some
well-aimed boulders at busybodies who live in very fragile glass
houses.
48. "Goin' Down South" -- R.L. Burnside (1968). Recorded by Atlanta
folklorist George Mitchell, a young Burnside heads toward a place where
"chilly wind don't blow."
49. "Come on in My Kitchen" -- Robert Johnson (1936-37). Though
originally composed and performed by blues giant Johnson, he never made
the title's five words sound as sensuous as Cassandra Wilson managed on
her 1993 album "Blue Light 'Til Dawn.'"
50. "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" -- Flatt and Scruggs (1949). Not only a
bluegrass landmark, but the theme to the epic gangster flick "Bonnie
and Clyde."
51. "Moon River" -- Johnny Mercer/Henry Mancini (1961). It's forever
identified as the theme from the Audrey Hepburn film "Breakfast at
Tiffany's," but it was written by Savannah native Mercer (with Henry
Mancini) and inspired by the river that ran behind his house on
Burnside Island. It's now called Moon River.
52. "Graceland" -- Paul Simon (1986). A New Yorker gets road trip
fever, heading through the Delta and up to Elvis' house.
53. "Statesboro Blues" -- Blind Willie McTell (1928). Some recite
prayers, but at Duane Allman's funeral, his fellow Allman band members
performed this Blind Willie McTell original -- with Dickey Betts
playing Duane's guitar. (After all, it was the song Duane played over
and over again when he was teaching himself how to play the bottleneck
slide guitar.)
54. "Po Folks" -- Nappy Roots (2002). Underrated Kentucky hip-hop on a
favorite Southern theme: poverty.
55. "Hickory Wind" -- The Byrds/Gram Parsons (1968). A wistful ode by
the Waycross-raised godfather of alt-country that begins with the
simple yet evocative, "In South Carolina, there are many tall pines."
Recorded during his short tenure with the Byrds, which produced the
seminal country-rock classic "Sweetheart of the Rodeo."
56. "My Window Faces the South" -- Bob Wills (1946). Another jaunty
tale of an exile longing for the South, but he's "never frownin' or
down in the mouth" because at least his window faces south.
57. "Alabama" -- Neil Young (1972). An outspoken Canadian tries to save
a U.S. state.
58. "Greenville" -- Lucinda Williams (1998). Williams' distinctive
twang sounds both strong and regretful as she dismisses a lover with
anger issues. Fed up, she tells him to "just go on back to Greenville."
59. "Free Bird" -- Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973). It might be an overplayed
piece of Southern rock history, but it's still a bonafide classic.
60. "Southern Nights" -- Glen Campbell (1977). Alright jokester, get
that wicked mug shot out of your head a minute, and picture "Sou-thern
skies/Have you eee-ver noticed Sou-thern skies?/It's precious beauty
lies just beyond the eye/It goes running through your soul?"
61. "Orange Blossom Special," written by Ervin T. Rouse (1938-1939). A
fella named Chubby Wise sometimes gets co-credit for this support beam
in the house of Americana. For those inclined to learn the whole story,
there's a book called "Orange Blossom Boys: The Untold Story of Ervin
T. Rouse, Chubby Wise And The World's Most Famous Fiddle Tune."
62. "Down in the Boondocks" -- Billy Joe Royal/Joe South (1965). Billy
Joe Royal took it into the Top 10, but this
starcrossed-lovers-gone-country tale was written by under-heralded
Atlantan Joe South.
63. "On and On" -- Erykah Badu (1997). Badu's voice here reminds us of
Billie Holiday's muddy, weary twang.
64. "Sweet Southern Comfort" -- Buddy Jewell (2003). Well lookee here,
the "Nashville Star" winner done sung himself a minor classic.
65. "South of Cincinnati" -- Dwight Yoakam (1986). A mournful country
lament from Yoakam's debut album, "Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.," about
lovers divided by the Ohio River, pride and 14 long, lonely years.
66. "Blue Sky" -- Allman Brothers (1972). As much a calming meditation
as it is a Southern rock melody, this tune was written by Dickie Betts
for his then-girlfriend, Sandy "Bluesky" Wabegijig. It was also the
first Allmans' song that Betts sang lead on.
67. "Ugly" -- Bubba Sparxxx (2001). Undeniable "Bubba chatter" over
beat king Timbaland's percussion equaled Athens' first major entry onto
the hip-hop scene.
68. "Welcome to Atlanta" -- Jermaine Dupri featuring Ludacris (2001).
Not a great song out of context, but ever since this anthem announced
ATL as the place to be, the city's hip-hop scene has never looked back.
69. "Oh, Atlanta" -- Alison Krauss (1995). Originally recorded by
British rockers Bad Company and written by guitarist Mick Ralphs, this
song was resuscitated by Krauss' crystalline soprano and her strangely
twisted pronunciation of "Georgia."
70. "Deep Down in Florida" -- Muddy Waters (1977). You can almost feel
the humidity.
71. "That's What I Like About the South" -- Bob Wills and His Texas
Playboys (1942). A rhyming dictionary gone wonderfully haywire, where
"Alabamy" goes with "mammy" and "hammy," and "shakey" with "mistakey."
72. "Dixie Chicken" -- Little Feat (1973). A woman who's been around
the block several times takes our narrator for a ride. He's suckered in
by her seductive refrain: "If you'll be my Dixie Chicken, I'll be your
Tennessee Lamb." Bandleader Lowell George was born and raised in
Southern California, but you'd never know it from Southern-fried tunes
like this.
73. "Tennessee Waltz" -- Patti Page (1950). Now 78, Oklahoman Page was
the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and this sweet and simple
tune, penned by Country Music Hall of Famer Pee Wee King and Tennessee
native Redd Stewart, was her biggest hit.
74. "Southern Accents" -- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1985). Sure,
Petty became a national star. But this song takes you back to his
countrified roots.
75. "Shake Whatcha Mama Gave Ya" -- Poison Clan (1992). A strip club
classic -- surprise, surprise.
76. "Patches" -- Clarence Carter (1970). One of those weepers about
being poor that's measured not by grades, not by stars, but by the
number of handkerchiefs you use while listening to it.
77. "Cell Therapy" -- Goodie Mob (1995). Among the first Southern
hip-hop songs to insist that this region's artists know just as much
about storytelling as booty-shaking.
78. "Betty Lonely" -- Vic Chesnutt (1995). Critically beloved Athens
singer-songwriter Chesnutt's sad account of a woman living "in a duplex
of stucco on the north bank of a brackish river" who "will always think
in Spanish" is so Floridian that you can feel the heat and humidity and
see the Spanish moss.
79. "No Depression" --Uncle Tupelo (1990). An Illinois trio messes with
an A.P. Carter song, and in the process helps create the punk-roots
sub-genre known as alternative country.
80. "Nann" -- Trick Daddy (1998). The title is a generations-old slang
word ("You don't know nann about great Southern songs!"), and the song
an unofficial introduction to sassy pin-up Trina, who conducts a
hilariously bitter exchange with underappreciated Miami rapper Trick
Daddy.
81. "Return of the Grievous Angel" -- Gram Parsons (1973). The Grievous
Angel -- aka late Waycross-reared alt-country godfather Parsons --
heads west to grow up with the country, but the 20,000 roads he travels
all lead right back home.
82. "Birmingham" -- Randy Newman (1974). An ode to "the greatest city
in Alabam'," featuring factory work, a wife named Marie and a big black
dog named Dan.
83. "Blackbird" -- Dionne Farris (1994). With just a countrified
acoustic guitar backing her, this outstanding Atlanta vocalist
transforms the original -- by four white British guys better known as
the Beatles -- into a full symphony of inspiration for black women
everywhere.
84. "Evangeline" -- Emmylou Harris (1981). The Band's Robbie Robertson
wrote this tale of a wronged woman standing "on the banks of the mighty
Mississippi," but Harris infused it with such epic grandeur that it
became hers.
85. "High Water (for Charley Patton)" -- Bob Dylan (2001). An
apocalyptic, banjo-driven companion piece to Bessie Smith's flood
lament "Back Water Blues."
86. "Just Kickin' It" -- Xscape (1993). The loping "Let's Do It Again"
sample and the harmonies this foursome generate sound like Sunday
mornings in church and Sunday afternoons in the rocking chair all at
the same time.
87. "Georgia Rhythm" -- Atlanta Rhythm Section (1976). The
"band-on-the-road" genre gets a Southern twist as the hometown boys
pass around the bottle, crank up their trusty Gibsons and tear up
another town.
88. "If Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie" -- Hank Williams Jr. (1982).
Sample lyric: "If they don't have a Grand Ole Opry, like they do in
Tennessee/Just send me to Hell or New York City, it'd be about the same
to me."
89. "Wait" -- Ying Yang Twins (2005). Down-South lasciviousness from
two wild, gold-toothed guys who -- with this song -- finally earned
applause from serious hip-hop critics.
90. "Knoxville Girl" -- The Louvin Brothers (1956). It doesn't get much
more Southern than a murder ballad delivered by the goosebump-raising
harmonies of these Alabama siblings.
91. "Red Clay Halo" -- Gillian Welch (2001). A country girl damns the
dirt that stains her clothes and cakes under her nails.
92. "In Da Wind" -- Trick Daddy, Cee-Lo and Big Boi (2002). Try as they
might to deny it, can self-professed "sneaky ol' freaky ol' geechee ?
collard green, neckbone-eatin" guys be anything other than Southern?
93. "Memphis" -- Chuck Berry (1959). Rock 'n' roll was born in the
South, and Chuck Berry is one of its daddies. In this song, he's
6-year-old Marie's daddy, trying to phone his little girl who lives
"just a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge."
94. "Stars Fell on Alabama" -- written by Mitchell Parish and Frank
Perkins (1934). Lazy and luxurious, like a night spent lying in the
grass, gazing skyward. Billie Holiday gave us one of the best versions.
95. "People Everyday" -- Arrested Development (1992). One of hip-hop's
most eloquent discussions on some of the ignorance in hip-hop culture.
96. "Can't You See" -- Marshall Tucker Band (1973). The best Southern
rock tune of the early '70s that wasn't an Allman Brothers Band or
Lynyrd Skynyrd track. An unforgettable acoustic guitar riff, the
bracing sting of electric guitar and a forlorn flute send this
mean-woman blues song soaring into the mountains.
97. "Chattahoochee" -- Alan Jackson (1992). Proudly corny country.
98. "Git Up, Git Out" -- OutKast with Goodie Mob (1994). Before it was
sampled in Macy Gray's first single, "Do Something," this was an
underground hip-hop favorite -- your mama's admonitions set to music.
99. "Maps and Legends" -- R.E.M. (1985). The Athens quartet's first few
albums are as saturated with Southern imagery as the kudzu-draped cover
of the band's full-length debut, "Murmur." This sweetly swaying tune,
dedicated to Summerville artist the Rev. Howard Finster, is from album
No. 3, "Fables of the Reconstruction."
100. "Mistress" -- Caroline Herring (2003). A heart-wrenching song told
from the perspective of a slave whose master -- and lover-- is dying.

[Intheway]

Post by Uni
Nice list, but you forgot Hot Smoke and Sassafras - by Bubble Puppy! :-)

There's a nice article about Bubble Puppy in the current Music issue of
the Oxford American, and "Hot Smoke and Sassafras" is included on the
free CD.

Fred

[Uni]

Post by Intheway

Post by Uni
Nice list, but you forgot Hot Smoke and Sassafras - by Bubble Puppy! :-)

There's a nice article about Bubble Puppy in the current Music issue of
the Oxford American, and "Hot Smoke and Sassafras" is included on the
free CD.

I know, that's why I mentioned them :-)

Thanks.

Uni

Post by Intheway
Fred