By José Gandue @spinning zone
Cover art by Zonagirante Studio
Nostalgia, melancholy, homesickness. That rash in the heart that makes us say such unverifiable phrases as «"the past was always better", "nobody beats my mother's cooking", "rock ended in the eighties", "people used to dress well, not like now". Nostalgia, that deceptive feeling that makes certain ladies remember the times of Manual of Civility and Good Manners, popularly known as the Carreño Manual, a book first published in 1853, where "Christian morality" prevailed over the irresponsible disorders of the ever-present daring disobedient. Nostalgia, at times, as an old friend of the house, Eduardo Arias, says, becomes the invention of events that never happened, "fictional nostalgia." But this article is not about persecuting those whose memories are broken when faced with what was lost in distant days., Rather, he wants to talk about an exemplary case of how a song served different feelings in its three versions.
In 1972, the Canadian artist Neil Young She had denounced racism and slavery in the southern United States in two of her songs. In one of them, Alabama, It had a verse that said:
«"Oh, Alabama
Banjos playing through broken glass.
Windows shattered in Alabama
Seeing old people tied up with white ropes
Listen to the banjo
Doesn't it take you home?»
In another, Southern Man, written five years earlier, she exclaimed:
«"I saw cotton and I saw blackness"
Tall white mansions and small huts
Southern man, when will you pay them back?
I heard screams and whips cracking
How long? How long? How?»
Given such references, which denigrated the image of the southern states, the group Lynyrd Skynyrd, The band, curiously formed in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida, decided to respond. On their album Secord Helping, Released in 1974, they published their song Sweet home Alabama, a tune in which they wanted to refute the claims of Young, who, in their view, had devalued the qualities of that region:
«"I miss Alabama once again, and I think that's a sin," I said.
Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her.
Well, I heard that old Neil looked down on her.
Well, I hope Neil Young remembers it.
A Southern man doesn't need him around, anyway.
Sweet Home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet Home Alabama
Lord, I am going back home to you.»
We won't deny that the song manages to motivate anyone, starting with the unbeatable riff who presents it. The chorus is catchy and can infect anyone who listens to it with a "nationalist" feeling, no matter how far away one was born from Montgomery or the towns around the state capital. That said, blue skies (which must be beautiful, no doubt) are one thing, but the historical denialism that the text might contain is another. In any case, fifty years after its publication, Sweet home Alabama It remains a widely listened-to anthem, referenced in films, video games, private and public advertisements, and its title became the official motto of the State in question in 2009. The original recording has been played 1.4 billion times on Spotify, making it one of the most listened-to tracks on the entire platform.
In 1984, Nostalgia crossed the ocean and settled in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Total loss, A punk band formed in the port of Vigo in 1981, decided to cover the original Lynyrd Skynyrd song and transform it into a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of Galician emigrants who sailed the seas of the world in search of a better future, without losing, likewise, the memory of their motherland.. That's where it came from. Mihna Terra Galega:
«"To a Caribbean island
I have had to emigrate
And work as a waiter
Far, far away from my home
I'm overcome with homesickness.
Breogán's pain
When the Muñeira plays
The tears begin to flow (To flow)
My Galician Land
Where the sky is always gray
My Galician Land
It's hard being away from you (Away from you)
Where the pine trees complain
And you can hear alalás
Where rain is art
And God lay down to rest (To rest)
The Hurdy-Gurdy Players of Ortigueira
The Kafkaesque Ones of Jaján
The Galician Navy League
And the manor of Meiras (De Meiras)
My Galician Land
Where the sky is always gray
My Galician Land
It's hard being away from you (Away from you)»
The lyrics refer to the region's usual climate, to the "pain" of Breogán (the mythical Celtic king of Gallaecia), to the muñeiras (a popular musical composition from Galicia, with its corresponding dance), to the literature of the Galician "Rexurdimento", to the alalás (popular Galician rhythm of medieval origin), the hurdy-gurdies (a musical instrument with strong roots in Galicia since the Middle Ages) of Ortigueira (in reference to the Celtic music festival celebrated in the town), to the Galician Armed League (an extreme left-wing group active in the early eighties in that territory) and the Pazo de Meirás (the manor house in dispute over ownership with the Franco family in Sada, A Coruña, ceded to the then Head of State after the Civil War through "popular subscription"). The tune, despite not having been a promotional single of Thank goodness we still have Portugal., the album on which it was included, It became an iconic recording for the group, and four decades later, it remains one of Siniestro Total's most played tracks.
In 1998, melancholy crossed the Atlantic again, reaching the Río de la Plata and transforming into a cynical and furious lament. The Argentine Charly García He gets to work, and together with Javier Calamaro, creates a version to exalt "criollo cunning", called Sweet Home Buenos Aires. Lyrics with a strong critical message, in the midst of the neoliberal economic period, the hangover from Menemism, and prelude to one of the worst crises in the history of the Southern Cone:
I cross the Pampa
Far from the city
My beloved Buenos Aires
I've already moved away from the high levels of filth.
They tell so many lies
That they make us swallow
You will die for the Falklands
But don't leave any accounts unpaid.
Sweet Home Buenos Aires
Where the sky is so gray
Sweet Home Buenos Aires
Condemned Country
Mr. Charly García
He founded this city (Yes, sir!)
I hope he remembers me
In the midst of a morning hangover
Sweet Home Buenos Aires
Where the sky is so gray
Sweet Home Buenos Aires
Condemned country.
In short, one song, three different stories, and a different reference in each case to what nostalgia means. And to think that it all started with a complaint made by Neil Young about the social and historical conditions of the southern United States. Music always has a lot to say. Will another artist pick up the baton and create their own version in the coming years? We'll see…
