On August 20, 2011, Steely Dan performed at the Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Amphitheater. A report at the al.com blog said the crowd filled the amphitheater "except for the far corners of the 200-level seats." The facility's capacity is 7,470.
Fourteen days after the Steely Dan concert, on September 3rd, the Alabama Crimson Tide played Kent State at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Rolltide.com reported attendance at 101,821 -- which would be a sell-out crowd because the seating capacity of the stadium is 101,821.
Crimson Tide games fill the stands at Bryant-Denny Stadium several weekends each fall.
There's a reason why these "cracker a**holes," as Steely Dan's northeastern elitist a**hole Walter Becker called the team in 1977, has the grandiose name Crimson Tide, and Steely Dan's name is far from grandiose. The Crimson Tide really ARE winners in the world, and their grandiose name is well deserved.
Steely Dan's name -- derived from a fictional dildo in William S. Burroughs' novel, Naked Lunch -- is also entirely appropriate ... for a New York elitist, has-been boomer musical duo with drug-addled brains whose songs pay homage to the degenerate sex-drugs-rock and roll culture they helped to create.
Rolltide.com also reports that more than eight million fans have witnessed the Tide play 105 home games in Bryant-Denny over the last 19 seasons. That doesn't count the people who watched them play in away games -- or the literal millions who watch them on TV.
The gray, balding, 20th century vintage rockers may make fine music to accompany getting drunk or high -- I don't know, I don't drink or do drugs -- but the Alabama Crimson Tide inspires fans to strive for excellence, to aim for victory, to bring forth the winner's outlook in themselves. And they'll be doing it long after Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are eating broth, mashed potatoes and banana jello in a left coast nursing home somewhere....
Remember....
-- Alabama crackers are better than New Yuck elitists --
ROLL TIDE!
All this over some song lyrics from 1977? Are you taking your meds correctly?
ReplyDeleteActually, no, it's not just "over some song lyrics from 1977." Incapable of seeing the bigger picture and deeper meaning, are ya?
ReplyDeleteCorey, did you read the post just before this one, titled The Winners of the World? That'll give you a little background ... but whether you could discern the real issue still remains to be seen....
ReplyDeletehttp://mybacksass.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-winners-of-world.html
I get your point Connie. You think that since member of Steely Dan wrote lyrics that call the Crimson Tide football team a bunch of "cracker assholes"...sorry I a Yankee and curse words do not scare me...and this you feel is a broader mindset of those in the North and it all ties back to the War of the Rebellion...yadda yadda yadda.
ReplyDeleteGo take your meds according to the directions on the label.
Actually, Corey, you don't get my point, and the conclusion you draw from your analysis of it is simply wrong. The elitist mindset found in the northeast and the left coast doesn't "tie back" to the war. It pre-exists the war and thus has nothing to do with the war.
ReplyDeleteHowever, you did get the part about its being a broader mindset. I clearly acknowledged that not everyone up north shares this mondset. On the other hand, the mindset does exist and it is acknowledged by more than just Southerners.
Do you think the elitist mindset DOESN'T exist?
In one discussion form about Steely Dan and Deacon Blues, one commenter notes, "It's no secret that through the 60's and 70's, anyone from Alabama, or the South in general were considered "crackers" by the elitists in California and the Northeast. Donald Fagen is one of these - as much as I love his music, he is of that ilk. Most Bama fans I know understand that the underlying meaning of his lyric wasn't flattering - YET, it was truthful. Alabama, in those days, was a winner, regardless of his bigoted views of Southerners, and a southern school which was one of the winningest programs at the time. The lyrics say what they say - underlying reasons notwithstanding." http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=4042
Of course, there weren't/aren't all that many northeastern elitists in rock and roll, while there are tons and tons of Southerners who shape that music...you might call THEM the elitists of rock. In fact, there is a sub-genre of rock and roll called Southern rock, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_rock but not one called northeastern elitist rock.
Some Southern rock bands are Alabama, the Allman Brothers Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Charlie Daniels Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Eagles, Elvin Bishop, Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchet, Steve Miller Band, Ted Nugent, Wet Willie, Hank Williams Jr., ZZ Top.
"Southern Rock," btw, doesn't mean the composers or performers are from the South, (Ted Nugent is from Michigan, for example) though many are. Southern rock is a musical genre that originated in the South. These are just a few Southern rock performers. More comprehensive list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_southern_rock_bands
As for Becker's derogatory elitist putdowns of the University of Alabama's football team, I don't think either he or Fagen can hold a candle to AJ McCarron for sheer decency.
ReplyDeleteAJ attended an Episcopal high school in Mobile, Alabama where he played football and prepared for college-level play. He is an athlete, but not just an athlete -- a quarterback at the University of Alabama, legendary for its winning football program, which is in the Southeastern Conference, the toughest in the nation. In the BCS era, the SEC has produced the most national championship teams. The winningest is the Alabama Crimson Tide.
AJ's sport requires extreme mental and physical discipline and practice. And his team has a legendary history.
AJ's Facebook fan page, run by himself and his family, champions children with grave medical conditions as much as it features AJ's football. http://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-McCarron-Fan-Page/237442503654?ref=ts&fref=ts
By contrast, northeastern elitists Becker and Fagen, while admittedly very talented musically, embraced the whole sex, drugs and rock-and-roll scene. The name of their band was taken from The Naked Lunch by William Burroughs, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Lunch, a novel about a junkie that violated obscenity laws when originally published. (Steely Dan was the name one of the characters gave to her dildoes.) See, Corey, the elitist mindset is no stranger to the gutter.
According to Wikipedia, at the time Walter Becker made his "cracker assholes" comment about the Alabama Crimson Tide, he was a junkie addicted to narcotics. His girlfriend died of an overdose. Nevertheless, Steely Dan's music glorifies drug and alcohol use, and sexual promiscuity.
And these dissolute boomer elitists call their moral betters "cracker assholes". They're an absolute joke.
Corey, pay attention. Hone up your reading comprehension skills. Nobody wrote lyrics that called the Crimson Tide football team a bunch of "cracker assholes". The lyrics in question from Deacon Blues are, "They've got a name for the winners in the world. I want a name when I lose. They call Alabama the Crimson Tide. Call me Deacon Blues."
ReplyDeleteThe "cracker assholes" remark came from Becker when Fagen played that part of the lyrics for him during the writing of the song. Becker said, "You mean it's like, they call these cracker assholes this grandiose name like the Crimson Tide, and I'm this loser, so they call me this other grandiose name, Deacon Blues?" That was originally related by Fagen to Rolling Stone Magazine.