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Lynyrd Skynyrd -The Needle And The Spoon

Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Needle And The Spoon Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Second Helping
Released: 1974

The Needle And The Spoon Lyrics

Thirty days, Lord, and thirty nights
I'm coming home on an airplane flight
Mama waiting at the ticket line
Tell me son, why do you stand there cryin'?

It was The Needle And The Spoon
And a trip to the moon
Took me away
Took me away

I've been feeling so sick inside
Got to get better, Lord, before I die
Some doctors couldn't help my head, they said
You'd better quit, son, before you're dead

Quit the needle, quit the spoon
Quit the trip to the moon
They gonna take you away
Lord, they gonna take you away

It was the needle and the spoon

I've seen a lot of people who thought they were cool
But then again, Lord, I've seen a lot of fools
I hope you people, Lord, can hear what I say
You'll have your chance to hit it some day

Don't mess with a needle or a spoon
Or a trip to the moon
They'll take you away

Lord, their gonna bury you boy
Don't mess with the needle
Now I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

Writer/s: VAN ZANT, RONNIE / COLLINS, ALLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Needle And The Spoon

In this song, lead singer Ronnie Van Zant was warning about the dangers of hardcore drugs, which the band was just learning about.

In 2015, Guitar World honored guitarist Allen Collins' solo, and his use of the wah-wah pedal to inject the Southern rock song with a hit of '70s psychedelia, by ranking it at #19 on the magazine's list of greatest wah solos of all time.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Ballad Of Curtis Loew

Lynyrd Skynyrd - The Ballad Of Curtis Loew Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Second Helping
Released: 1974

The Ballad Of Curtis Loew Lyrics

Well, I used to wake the mornin'
Before the rooster crowed
Searchin' for soda bottles
To get myself some dough
Brought 'em down to the corner
Down to the country store
Cash 'em in, and give my money
To a man named Curtis Loew

Old Curt was a black man
With white curly hair
When he had a fifth of wine
He did not have a care
He used to own an old Dobro
Used to play it 'cross his knee
I'd give old Curt my money
He'd play all day for me

Play me a song
Curtis Loew, Curtis Loew
Well, I got your drinkin' money
Tune up your Dobro
People said he was useless
Them people all were fools
'Cause Curtis Loew was the finest picker
To ever play the blues

He looked to be sixty
And maybe I was ten
Mama used to whoop me
But I'd go see him again
I'd clap my hands, stomp my feet
Try to stay in time
He'd play me a song or two
Then take another drink of wine

Play me a song
Curtis Loew, Curtis Loew
Well, I got your drinkin' money
Tune up your Dobro
People said he was useless
Them people all were fools
'Cause Curtis Loew was the finest picker
To ever play the blues

Yes, sir

On the day old Curtis died
Nobody came to pray
Ol' preacher said some words
And they chunked him in the clay
Well, he lived a lifetime
Playin' the black man's blues
And on the day he lost his life
That's all he had to lose

Play me a song
Curtis Loew, hey Curtis Loew
I wish that you was here so
Everyone would know
People said he was useless
Them people all were fools
'Cause Curtis you're the finest picker
To ever play the blues

Writer/s: VAN ZANT, RONNIE / COLLINS, ALLEN
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Ballad Of Curtis Loew

Curtis Loew is not the name of an actual person from Ronnie Van Zant's life. Rather, Curtis Loew is a composite of different people, including Skynyrd lead guitarist Ricky Medlocke's grandfather, Shorty Medlocke. Contrary to the song's lyrics, Shorty was not black. In a 1997 interview on the Lyve From Steel Town album, the band was quoted as jokingly saying, "We needed to 'color' the song up."

A dobro is a resonator guitar with a mechanical amplifier. It was originally released in 1927. Gibson now owns the rights to the dobro guitar.

According to Ronnie Van Zant's widow Judy Van Zant Jenness, the unusual spelling of "Loew" was Skynyrd guitarist Ed King's idea. When he was writing the liner notes for the Second Helping album, he decided to name the character after Loew's Theater - thus giving an old Bluesman a Jewish name.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Second Helping
Released: 1974

Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics

Big wheels keep on turning
Carry me home to see my kin
Singing songs about the south-land
I miss 'ole' 'bamy once again and I think it's a sin

Well I heard Mister 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

Sweet Home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

In Birmingham they love the Gov'nor, boo-hoo-hoo
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you, tell the truth

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you, here I come

Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they've been known to pick a song or two (yes they do)
Lord they get me off so much
They pick me up when I'm feeling blue, now how bout you?

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

Sweet home Alabama, oh sweet home
Where the skies are so blue and the governor's true
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you

Writer/s: VAN ZANT, RONNIE / ROSSINGTON, GARY ROBERT / KING, EDWARD C.
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Sweet Home Alabama Song Chart

Lynyrd Skynyrd is from Jacksonville, Florida. They wrote this song about their impressions of Alabama and as a tribute to the studio musicians at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios , where they recorded from 1970-1972. The studios gained fame during the '60s and '70s when it became the vogue thing for bands to record there. Artists like Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, and many big southern rock groups recorded there. "The Swampers" was a name Leon Russell's producer Denny Cordell came up with for the musicians, and when Russell earned a Gold Record for his 1971 album Leon Russell and the Shelter People (recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios), he gave one to the guys that said, "Presented to The Swampers." (These commemorative gold records were often given to folks who helped create or market the album, and they often went to record executives or radio stations). Lynyrd Skynyrd saw the record, and when they included the line, "Muscle Shoals has got The Swampers" in this song, they popularized the nickname and brought a lot of attention to these Alabama players who worked behind the scenes on many famous recordings. To find out how the nickname originated in the first place, we asked a Swamper - bass player David Hood, who told us: "We had been working with Leon, we had been working with Denny Cordell, who was his producer. I think Denny came up with the name. We did an album called The Shelter People. And on the album there were musicians on some tracks from Tulsa - Carl Radle and some of the guys from out there - and tracks by us. And to differentiate, he wrote down "The Muscle Shoals Swampers" on the ones we did, and the Tulsa one, I don't know what he called them, but the Tulsa people on the others. And that just kind of took.

As for Skynyrd's Muscle Shoals output, they recorded a full album there in 1972 which wasn't released until nine of the tracks were included on their 1978 album (after their tragic plane crash) Skynyrd's First and... Last. According to David Hood, the tape from the sessions, which included their song "Free Bird," got kinked at some point after it left the studio, and when the band's manager would play it for record companies, it was flipped and sounded terrible. The band wasn't happy with the Muscle Shoals crew at the time, but put aside any hard feelings when they found out the recordings were fine if played correctly. These early Skynyrd recordings were produced by Muscle Shoals house musician Jimmy Johnson; the band's first release was produced by Al Kooper.

One of the verses is an attack on Neil Young: "I hope Neil Young will remember a southern man don't need him around anyhow." Young had written songs like "Southern Man" and "Alabama," which implied that people in the Southern US were racist and stuck in the past. Skynyrd responded with this, a song about Southern pride and all the good things in Alabama. The feud between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young was always good-natured fun; they were actually big fans of each other. Ronnie Van Zant often wore Neil Young T-shirts on stage and is wearing one on the cover of Street Survivors, the last Skynyrd album before his death.

Neil Young performed this once: He played it at a memorial to the three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd who died in a plane crash in 1977.

The guitar solo in the song is actually played in the wrong key. Producer Al Kooper noticed that Ed King played the solo in the key of G instead of D, the first chord in the progression. He was so vexed that he took to tune to California, and played it for his guitarist friend Michael Bloomfield. In fact, the song is in G, and King himself rips the exuberant, melodic blues lines in the E minor pentatonic Blues scale, which in the song functions as the G pentatonic scale. (from Guitar Edge magazine - July/August 2006)

This was the lead track on the album, and it became Skynyrd's first hit. The song was written during the sessions for the group's first album, Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd, but they decided to save it so they would have a big song to open Second Helping. (thanks, Saint - New Orleans, LA, for above 2)

At the beginning, when Ronnie Van Zant says, "Turn it up," it was not planned. He was telling an engineer to turn up the volume in his headset before recording his track. The comment sounded good, so they left it in the final mix.

If you listen carefully to the line, "Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her," immediately following it, someone in the background sings, "Southern Man." Some people thought it was a recording of Neil Young, but it was their producer, Al Kooper, impersonating Young.

This was Skynyrd's first single to chart. They have never been a "singles" band, as their fans tend to buy the albums.

This was the first Skynyrd song to use female backup singers. The band never met the three women who sang on this, since they were recorded separately.

Guitarist Gary Rossington came up with the idea for this song. Ed King, another Skynyrd guitarist, wrote the intro, and Ronnie Van Zant wrote the lyrics. It came together quickly and easily.

The voice at the beginning that does the count-in is Ed King.

Country group Alabama did a rendition of this for a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute album.

George Wallace was the governor of Alabama when this was released. He loved the song, especially the line, "In Birmingham they love the governor," and he made the band honorary Lieutenant Colonels in the state militia. Wallace may not have listened very carefully however, as Ronnie Van Zant explained: "The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. The general public didn't notice the words 'Boo! Boo! Boo!' after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor." Van Zant added, "We're not into politics, we don't have no education, and Wallace don't know anything about rock and roll." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

In 2002, this was featured in two movies, one that used the song as the title. In Sweet Home Alabama, Reese Witherspoon stars as a girl who must decide between her ex-husband in Alabama or her fiancé in New York. In 8 Mile, Eminem does a rap version of the song, making fun of his mother's bumpkin boyfriend and changing the chorus to "I live at home in a trailer." The version of Sweet Home Alabama on the soundtrack was recorded by Jewel. (thanks, Shawn - Loganville, GA)

This was featured in the video game NASCAR Thunder 2001. EA Sports, the developer of this game, sponsored their first NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway, a racetrack in Alabama. The song is normally played once during NASCAR races ran at Talladega Superspeedway, an Alabama racetrack. (thanks, Joseph - Old Bridge, NJ)

An acoustic version sung by Johnny Van Zant is featured on Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1994 album Endangered Species. (thanks, Aaron - Twin Cities, MN)

This is featured in the 1997 movie Con Air. The escaped convicts listen to it during a party on the plane after getting away from an US Marshals raid. One of the characters, a serial killer played by Steve Buscemi, remarks: "Ironic, isn't it? Flying an airplane while listening to a song played by a band whose members got killed in a plane crash." (thanks, Maciej - Lublin, Poland)

This plays in the movie Forrest Gump near the end of the film when Forest and Jenny are reunited.

This returned to the UK chart in 2008 thanks to Kid Rock's hit "All Summer Long," which namechecks this song and borrows its guitar melody.

Al Kooper confirmed with us that near the end of the song, Ronnie Van Zant says, "Montgomery's got the answer," a reference to the Alabama state capitol. It's hard to make out what he's saying, and Q magazine, perhaps to mess with people, printed in their August 2008 issue a story that Ronnie Van Zant treated himself to a box of doughnuts before the session, which were eaten by his bandmates, prompting him to say, very angrily, "My doughnuts! Goddamn!"

In 2009 the state of Alabama began printing the words "Sweet Home Alabama" as an official slogan on its motor vehicle license plates. The state's previous plate featured another song, the jazz standard, "Stars Fell On Alabama."

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me The Breeze

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Call Me The Breeze Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos
Album: Second Helping
Released: 1974

Call Me The Breeze Lyrics

Call Me The Breeze
I keep blowin' down the road
Well now, they call me the breeze
I keep blowin' down the road
I ain't got me nobody
I don't carry me no load
Ain't no change in the weather
Ain't no changes in me
Well, there ain't no change in the weather
Ain't no changes in me
And I ain't hidin' from nobody
Nobody's hidin' from me
Oh, that's the way its supposed to be
Well, I got that green light, baby
I got to keep movin' on
Well, I got that green light, baby
I got to keep movin' on
Well, I might go out to California
Might go down to Georgia, I don't know
Well, I dig you Georgia peaches
Makes me feel right at home
Well now, I dig you Georgia peaches
Makes me feel right at home
But I don't love me no one woman
So I can't stay in Georgia long
Well now, they call me the breeze
I keep blowin' down the road
Well now, they call me the breeze
I keep blowin' down the road
I ain't got me nobody
I don't carry me no load
Ooh, Mr. Breeze

Writer/s: J. J. CALE
Publisher: CARLIN AMERICA INC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Call Me The Breeze Song Chart

This was written and originally recorded by the Oklahoma guitarist J.J. Cale. The song is about a guy who can go where the weather takes him, unburdened by the weight of the world. It was a fitting statement for Cale, who went out of his way to keep things simple and stay out of the spotlight (his photo didn't appear on his first seven albums). The concept of savoring simplicity and going where the wind takes you is also a theme of many Skynyrd songs.

"Call Me The Breeze" appeared on Cale's first solo album, a 1971 release called Naturally. He got his record deal after Eric Clapton recorded "After Midnight," a song Cale wrote and recorded with his band the Leathercoated Minds in 1966. Naturally did well, placing three songs in the Hot 100 and garnering Cale offers from bigger labels (he was signed to Shelter Records). Cale kept it low-key, however, and worked at his own pace.

When Lynyrd Skynyrd covered this song, it once again financed Cale's lifestyle, allowing him to release albums in a leisurely fashion and without concern for hit potential. Clapton remained a key supporter of Cale, later recording his songs "Cocaine" and "Travellin' Light." Cale died in 2013 at age 74.

The original J.J. Cale version of this song is stripped-down, with the vocals far lower in the mix. Skynyrd decided to cover the song when guitarist Gary Rossington came up with a riff that distinguished it from the original.

This was one of the few cover songs Skynyrd recorded, and the only one on the album a band member didn't write. They recorded another J.J. Cale song, "Same Old Blues," on their 1976 album Gimme Back My Bullets, and had plans to work with Cale that were derailed by the 1977 plane crash that killed three members of the band.

Despite being one of the most popular Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, this was not released as a single. Albums were a much bigger deal in 1974, so just two singles were issued from Second Helping: "Don't Ask Me No Questions" and "Sweet Home Alabama."

Since it never got overplayed when the album was out, "Call Me The Breeze" found a spot on most classic rock playlists for many years.