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Birmingham song after 2 games
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BlazerGreen Offline
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Post: #21
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
Newman’s Slurs Show Dirt for What It Is

An old but still pretty relevant article about Newman. I didn't know he wrote "Mama Told Me Not to Come". GREAT song.

Rednecks is as much about racism in the North as in the South at the time it was written:

"… free to be put in a cage in Harlem in New York City
And he’s free to be put in a cage in the South-Side of Chicago, the West-Side
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Hough in Cleveland
And he’s free to be put in a cage in East St. Louis
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Fillmore in San Francisco
And he’s free to be put in a cage in Roxbury in Boston
They’re gatherin’ ’em up from miles around
Keepin’ the n—–s down
"

He's a pretty complex guy. Born and spent his early youth in Louisiana so he's also a son of the South. I think he hates the bigoted ugly side of the Deep South but also has an affection for the beauty and kindness that can also be found here. I think a lot of us probably feel that way.

UAB and the Birmingham of 2021 stand against everything that song was about. If we co opt a really nice CHORUS about the town, I think it is just us taking ownership of our past in OUR own way. Things have changed and we can at least make the meaning of that one line change.
I think if asked, Randy might just approve.

Or just cut it. I really don't give a ****.
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2021 01:45 PM by BlazerGreen.)
10-11-2021 01:38 PM
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Dracorex Offline
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Post: #22
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
Generally negative to the song.

Also generally negative to blazer thunder leaking over into the 4th quarter on third down and 8ish making a bunch of noise and making communication hard for our own offense. That was the fault of the athletic department for placing the golden girls dance right before it and not allowing enough time to actually go through with it. The drumline should have cut early, but they couldn't see the field from where they were.
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2021 01:52 PM by Dracorex.)
10-11-2021 01:51 PM
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blazers9911 Offline
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Post: #23
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
He is literally a white man using the n word in his song. There is no separate meaning. There is no excuse. We as a university do not need to support this. This is a game day tradition being thrust upon us, not something that has been done at UAB for 50 years.
10-11-2021 01:53 PM
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DuelingDragon Offline
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Post: #24
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
The Blazer Thunder is too long. The claps should be much slower, spaced-out at the start, with a vocal complonent, (Guuubnhhhh!!) at the start and accelerated. Entire thing shouldn't be more than 45 seconds. I like the tradition of it but can't stand the way we execute it. And yeah, completely terrible to have it spill over into the quarter through an entire play.
10-11-2021 01:54 PM
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BlazerGreen Offline
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Post: #25
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 01:54 PM)DuelingDragon Wrote:  The Blazer Thunder is too long. The claps should be much slower, spaced-out at the start, with a vocal complonent, (Guuubnhhhh!!) at the start and accelerated. Entire thing shouldn't be more than 45 seconds. I like the tradition of it but can't stand the way we execute it. And yeah, completely terrible to have it spill over into the quarter through an entire play.

Blazer fans need to stop griping and just do what they're ******* told. Shut up, show up, and pay up. That's always worked well before, right?

UAB fans critiquing our game day experience here and on Facebook is not a problem. The problem is if UAB isn't listening.
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2021 02:21 PM by BlazerGreen.)
10-11-2021 02:08 PM
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C-Finder Offline
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Post: #26
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
TIL that Randy Newman made a whole album about southern bigotry.

Most people just known him for doing Toy Story, anything before that is new to casual fans. Call it the Ray Parker Jr. Syndrome03-lmfao
10-11-2021 02:15 PM
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UAB Schnauzer Offline
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Post: #27
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 01:53 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  He is literally a white man using the n word in his song. There is no separate meaning. There is no excuse. We as a university do not need to support this. This is a game day tradition being thrust upon us, not something that has been done at UAB for 50 years.

That’s not the same song. You are complaining about one song because of the lyrics in a different song. He n word is not in the song Birmingham
10-11-2021 02:20 PM
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BlazerGreen Offline
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Post: #28
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 02:20 PM)UAB Schnauzer Wrote:  
(10-11-2021 01:53 PM)blazers9911 Wrote:  He is literally a white man using the n word in his song. There is no separate meaning. There is no excuse. We as a university do not need to support this. This is a game day tradition being thrust upon us, not something that has been done at UAB for 50 years.

That’s not the same song. You are complaining about one song because of the lyrics in a different song. He n word is not in the song Birmingham

True but he did use it once in a song. CANCELLED
10-11-2021 02:24 PM
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mixduptransistor Offline
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Post: #29
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 02:24 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  True but he did use it once in a song. CANCELLED

No one is trying to 'cancel' Randy Newman. No one thinks he's a racist. Today, the use of that language looks bad but everyone knows he was calling out racists

The song "Birmingham" isn't racist, and I'm not saying it needs to go because of racism. The song "Birmingham" is entirely making fun of Birmingham for being full of idiots and simpletons. I'm starting to think maybe it is actually the perfect song for us after all
10-11-2021 02:39 PM
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UAB Schnauzer Offline
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Post: #30
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 02:39 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  
(10-11-2021 02:24 PM)BlazerGreen Wrote:  True but he did use it once in a song. CANCELLED

No one is trying to 'cancel' Randy Newman. No one thinks he's a racist. Today, the use of that language looks bad but everyone knows he was calling out racists

The song "Birmingham" isn't racist, and I'm not saying it needs to go because of racism. The song "Birmingham" is entirely making fun of Birmingham for being full of idiots and simpletons. I'm starting to think maybe it is actually the perfect song for us after all

I think you are way off base with the song and don’t understand Newman at all
10-11-2021 02:48 PM
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BlazerMatt Offline
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Post: #31
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
There doesn’t have to be a deeper meaning behind everything. Do you think Red Sox fans spend time and energy complaining about singing Sweet Caroline or the meanings behind it? We are basically just singing the hook of a song and ending it at there it’s basically a bunch of yada yada yada then ending with
Birmingham, Birmingham
The greatest city in Alabam
You can travel cross this entire land
There ain't no place like Birmingham


Just go with it.
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2021 03:13 PM by BlazerMatt.)
10-11-2021 03:12 PM
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GreenFreakUAB Offline
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Post: #32
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
...at least they don't use the first stanza, which mentions Tusca... Tusca... 03-puke03-puke03-puke um, that other city to the west...

As to the overall album this is from, it's a quite complex one - remember, this came out in '74, not all that far removed from the civil rights era - actually still somewhat within it, I guess (I'm NOT a historian). The whole album is a 'concept/theme' of sorts, and is truly not an easy listen, but DOES provoke conversation (as we have seen here) as to injustice from several angles.

And actually, I never thought of this song as THAT bad of a indictment of B'ham, although the dog stanza IS a little more than subtle... but I always thought he could have made it a LOT more of an indictment on the city considering the climate at the time.

Newman primarily writes in 'third person', which makes things a bit more 'complex', especially given the topic at hand - his biggest 'pre-Toy Story' hit was 'Short People', and he took a lot of heat from that - noting he was only 5'-6" and probably writing with regards to his own experiences as much as anything.

But as to OUR situation, yeah, just do the chorus if at all... I'd honestly rather just 86 it.
10-11-2021 03:30 PM
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blazr Away
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Post: #33
Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 10:56 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  My biggest problem is that it's actually a song about making fun of the simpletons of Birmingham. It was written in the 70s in the context of George Wallace and all of the problems in Birmingham, Alabama, and the South at the time. It's not actually a great song to be proud of. It's like the line about Birmingham in Sweet Home Alabama, it's meant as a bad thing


This. I was waiting for someone to crack that door open. I wasn’t going to take the friendly fire.


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10-11-2021 03:35 PM
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mixduptransistor Offline
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Post: #34
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 03:30 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  But as to OUR situation, yeah, just do the chorus if at all... I'd honestly rather just 86 it.

It would be one thing if it was a tank slappin' amazing kick ass song but it's not. It kind of sucks on its own and then it has all this baggage, I can't imagine anyone fighting to keep it
10-11-2021 03:43 PM
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UAB Schnauzer Offline
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Post: #35
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 03:35 PM)blazr Wrote:  
(10-11-2021 10:56 AM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  My biggest problem is that it's actually a song about making fun of the simpletons of Birmingham. It was written in the 70s in the context of George Wallace and all of the problems in Birmingham, Alabama, and the South at the time. It's not actually a great song to be proud of. It's like the line about Birmingham in Sweet Home Alabama, it's meant as a bad thing


This. I was waiting for someone to crack that door open. I wasn’t going to take the friendly fire.


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Being blue collar does not mean you’re simple. The he song was not making fun of Birmingham but it’s more fun to read to much into everything
10-11-2021 03:52 PM
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58-56 Offline
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Post: #36
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
This is a song that other fanbases should be singing to mock us. But of course, we have to score the own-goal.
10-11-2021 03:54 PM
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GreenFreakUAB Offline
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Post: #37
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 03:43 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  
(10-11-2021 03:30 PM)GreenFreakUAB Wrote:  But as to OUR situation, yeah, just do the chorus if at all... I'd honestly rather just 86 it.

It would be one thing if it was a tank slappin' amazing kick ass song but it's not. It kind of sucks on its own and then it has all this baggage, I can't imagine anyone fighting to keep it

...yeah, I like the tune in general, but it's NOT a Stadium Jam tune at ALL... maybe we could get our DJ to do a 'mash-up' of it with whatever dope beat tune is 'lit' these days... 03-lmfao they would have to speed it up at LEAST double-time, tho...

...bringing up the OTHER box of bemoanment regarding our new digs... I think the DJ / Announcer / Band thing was somewhat better this time, although the DJ is still stepping all over the 'play announcer'... but the DJ has 1) turned it down a good bit (I like music, but when you can't hear the person sitting next to you who is yelling at you, it's just too darn LOUD, kids); and 2) DJ did NOT play after EVERY play, and DID cut off well before the play count started. Methinks there was a meeting last week regarding the issue... 01-lauramac2 I could still do with about 50% less DJ 'interludes', but hey, it's a good start... 03-old03-old03-old
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2021 04:19 PM by GreenFreakUAB.)
10-11-2021 03:56 PM
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GreenMississippi Offline
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Post: #38
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
I might have missed opening day but I picked a great time for a long overdue home game. Lovely stadium, lovely weather, and lots of time for creating traditions.

And good traditions are not shoved down our mouths. If we liked this song, we would have been singing it at Bartow years ago. The song is not good. I thought it sounded strange and reading about the context it makes sense now.

Abandon the song.
10-11-2021 04:14 PM
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blazerblazer Offline
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Post: #39
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
(10-11-2021 04:14 PM)GreenMississippi Wrote:  I might have missed opening day but I picked a great time for a long overdue home game. Lovely stadium, lovely weather, and lots of time for creating traditions.

And good traditions are not shoved down our mouths. If we liked this song, we would have been singing it at Bartow years ago. The song is not good. I thought it sounded strange and reading about the context it makes sense now.

Abandon the song.

Agreed, if it was a good song it would have been played in Bartow especially with the BIRMINGHAM jerseys.

Was this Spunky or Speedy or whatever his name is idea? Sounds like a song they'd play in between commercial breaks or the top of the hour during Rick and Bubba. And as some said, it was played during Finebaum when he was in Bham.

There are obvious issues with the song. It's slow, it's not that popular, the dog verse especially the Get em' Dan lyric is a huge dog whistle especially with the history, and it's just not a great song to get the crowd going. At least Sweet Caroline has some energy with the Bah Bah Bah and the So Good, So Good parts.

Look we have some great current Birmingham artists with Sam Hunt, St. Paul and The Broken Bones and not as current but culturally relevant with Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard. If UAB and BJCC/Protective Stadium were smart, they would commission one of these artists to write a Birmingham anthem song.

If you want to make it a new tradition then use a newer more up beat song. Imagine if one of those artists wrote a song and made it an event to be premiered at a pre-game concert or halftime concert.
10-11-2021 04:55 PM
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Qwilliams07 Offline
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Post: #40
RE: Birmingham song after 2 games
Hope they do away with the song. If not, I’ll just stop going to games and watch them on tv and stick to basketball. No one should have to feel offended because some of you don’t understand or care why the artist is a bigot. That’s like playing R.Kelly at a sex trafficking event. I’ll always support the blazers because it’s not on the team but I’m not supporting that “tradition”
10-11-2021 05:13 PM
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