The South's Gonna Do It Again

by

The Charlie Daniels Band

Album: Fire On The Mountain      Released: 1975

US Chart: 29     

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Songfacts:  You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.

The American South is the birthplace of the Southern Rock music genré. Charlie Daniels has worked with many of the Southern Rock bands that defined the sound. Says Daniels: "This song is just about a bunch of bands that we played with and enjoyed working with. We started in '74, we brought them out, and we worked with Marshall Tucker, and The Allman Brothers, and Lynyrd Skynyrd - our good old bunch. We all came up basically in the same kind of situation, and most of the guys that I wrote this song about we felt very close to. We felt a kinship to, a brotherhood sort of thing. So it's just a tribute song to the bands." (Thanks to Charlie Daniels for speaking with us about this song. Learn more in his full Songfacts interview. His website is www.charliedaniels.com.)

Named in the song are:
The Marshall Tucker Band (Spartanburg, SC)
Lynyrd Skynyrd (Jacksonville, FL)
Dickey Betts (from Allman Brothers Band)
Elvin Bishop (Glendale, CA)
ZZ Top (Houston, TX)
Wet Willie (Mobile, AL)
Barefoot Jerry (TN)
(thanks, Aaron - Twin Cities, MN)

The band Grinderswitch is mentioned in the opening line of the lyrics: "A train to Grinder's Switch is runnin' right on time." Grinderswitch was a Southern Rock band formed by Dru Lombar, Larry Howard, and Joe Dan Petty in middle Georgia. They recorded on the Capricorn label formed by Phil Walden in Macon, Georgia. They toured with The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Charlie Daniels Band and others in the early 1970s, and also played at Charlie Daniels' Volunteer Jam. Unfortunately, Joe Dan Petty, who was also a guitar tech for the Allman Brothers Band, passed away in 2000 and Dru Lombar passed away in 2005. (thanks to Richard Forrester, who adds: "Dru and I became personal friends in 1999 when I was hosting a Blues radio show in Atlanta and I booked his Blues band, Dr. Hector and The Groove Injectors on numerous occasions at a club outside metro Atlanta.")

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Comments:

When I play it on stage, I do all the fiddle work on guitar with a pile of effects. Sounds ok but it aint no fiddle.
- Michael, Summerdale, AL

Woah, Foghat? I've never considered them Southern rock.
- James, Tracy, CA

It seems that only people who listen to / appreciate Southern Rock understand it. Most people see the title and automatically assume it's a racist song. And I agree on CDB being an awesome Southern Rock band. I was a huge fan before I even got into southern rock.
- Mike, Poland, NY

I never counted the number of bands mentioned in that song, and actually I missed some of those references.
- Stefanie, Rock Hill, SC

CDB is an awesome band and one of the only real great Southern Rock/Country bands-they also do gospel.
- Jeff, Columbia, SC

Just a couple of notes, first Elvin Bishop is from Tulsa, OK. Seconly there are 9 bands mentioned in the song. It is a great song, and I have heard Charlie do versions where he mentions even more.
- Bob, Virginia Beach, VA

There are actually eleven bands mentioned in whole or in part in the song. Here are the annotated verses: Well, the train to Grinder's Switch (in 1969, they released one album, Grinder's Switch Featuring Garland Jeffreys, before breaking up in 1970. Also, Grinder's Switch is the place that Minnie Pearl referred to as home in her comedy. It is a real place in TN)is runnin' right on time And them Tucker Boys (The Marshall Tucker Band, check out www.tuckerhead.com/tucker_tales_link.htm) are cookin' down in Caroline People down in Florida can't be still When ol' Lynyrd Skynrd's (Lynrd Skynrd) pickin' down in Jacksonville People down in Georgia come from near and far To hear Richard Betts (Allman Brothers Band)pickin' on that red guitar Chorus(omitted) Elvin Bishop (guitarist whose band featured Mickey Thomas, later of starship as vocalist) sittin' on a bale of hay He ain't good lookin', but he sure can play And there's ZZ Top (ZZ Top) and you can't forget That old brother Willie's (Wet Willie) gettin' soakin' wet And all the good people down in Tennessee Are diggin' Barefoot Jerry ( great band of formere studio musicians whose music is not availabe in record stores anymore, but is availableonline. Definitely worth listening to) and the CDB (the Charlie Daniels Band) I think it would have been great if Charlie had written a third verse. He could have chosen from The Atlanta Rythm Section, the Outlaws, Foghat, Pure Prairie League as well as 38 Special, Black Oak Arkansas, Sea Level, Rossington Collins, Molly Hatchett, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and more. Some of those names would have been hard to fit into a verse, but it would have been neat.
- Greg, Shelbyville, KY

This song's cool. It's got a cool beat.
- Stefanie, Rock Hill, SC

Amazing song......thats all i have to say
- matt adkins, huntington, WV

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