Neil Young’s “Southern Man” Lyrics Meaning

“Southern Man” is a song which it seems proved a lot more divisive than Neil Young had originally intended. Young is a woke artist from back in the day. And as designed, this piece was meant to speak to the Civil Rights Movement, which was still a pressing issue when “Southern Man” was released. 

However, historically speaking the lyrics are set more in, shall we say the 19^th century. This was the century when American slavery was still very much in effect.

Now for instance in the second verse when the vocalist alludes a Southern Blackman being lynched due to dating a White woman, of course we know what the lynching of Black people, in the South in particular, persisted even beyond the days of slavery, such as during the Jim Crow era. And it is obvious, even if the lyrics are overgeneralized, that the intended point Neil is putting forth is that the racism which defined American slavery in still very much extant in the southern part of the country, where said institution was most pronounced. 

But that said, slavery itself had been illegal in the United States for over a century before this song was dropped. So it is understandable why the direct references to that socioeconomic system may have upset some Southerners.

Chorus

And the above is especially true when you also take the chorus into consideration. There the vocalist takes a condescending tone towards the “Southern man” in terms of his racist tendencies. 

Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with this argument per se. For example, cross burnings have also persisted beyond the days of slavery. And it has long been pointed out, as alluded to by Young, that the institution itself was more or less built on hypocrisy. This is because the same Southern Whites who were its biggest proponents were also supposed to be these types of diehard Christians. 

So what Neil is telling them is to be mindful of their religious beliefs, which are for instance founded on notions like loving others as yourself, regardless of their racial background. And the vocalist also predicts that eventually the South is going to change, which it was already in process of doing, by law, in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement.

White Southerners

But the reason it is further understandable why some White Southerners would get upset after hearing this song is because, most notably, it isn’t like all of them are racists anyway. And perhaps some were also offended by the sins of their forefathers being brought to the forefront in more recent times. 

Indeed the wealth of many Southern Whites is traceable to American slavery since, after all, slaves are employees that you don’t have to compensate. 

And in a way Young was even before his time by bringing up the idea of reparations for the descendants of American slaves. This is an idea which has become increasingly popular in the early 21^st century.

Takeaway

Whereas Southern Whites of a certain disposition may have wanted to make a stink out of the lyrics of this song, remember that musical lyrics are poetry, and poetry is art. Thus at the end of day, listeners are required to do a bit of pondering beyond what is being presented on the surface. 

And in that regard yes, Neil Young has suggested that he is speaking of the “White Man” in general. Or put more macrocosmically, even though the narrative is largely set in a specific time period and geographical location, the vocalist is lashing out against institutionalized racism in general though specifically in relation to African-Americans who, to someone like Young who is actually based in North America, would be the epitome of the victims of such a system. For as illustrated by the question which closes out this song, as it currently stands, institutional racism doesn’t show any signs (even amidst the Civil Rights Movement of that day) of actually ceasing.

Facts about “Southern Man”

Neil Young is a highly-acclaimed and prolific musician that has been steadily releasing music since the late 1960s. And this track dates back to his third studio album, “After the Gold Rush”. Reprise Records commercially released the whole album on 19 September 1970.

“Southern Man” was written by Neil. He also co-produced it with David Briggs (1944-1995) and Kendall Pacios (d. 2016).

As noted earlier, some Southern Whites did not take kindly to how they were generalized in this song. Most notable amongst those who took offense was another popular musical act of the day known as Lynyrd Skynyrd. In fact it is said that “Sweet Home Alabama” (1974), which actually proved to be their biggest hit, was actually a response song to “Southern Man”.

Despite this, Neil once revealed his love for “Sweet Home Alabama”. He even covered it live on multiple occasions.

Neil contributed the song “Philadelphia” to the soundtrack of a movie by the same name starring Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks that came out in 1993. And apparently, it was “Southern Man” in particular which compelled Jonathan Demme (1944-2017), the director of the film, to enlist him for the project.

“Southern Man” was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement. However, Neil has also suggested that its mood was also encouraged by his tumultuous relationship with Susan Acevedo. Susan was Neil’s wife at the time. To note, it doesn’t appear that Acevedo is from the South. Furthermore, judging by her last name she may not be (fully) White either. But either way they were beefing at the time. Susan actually went on to file for divorce the month after “Southern Man” was officially dropped.

What Music Genre(s) is “Southern Man”?

This can be first and foremost be considered a folk rock song. That said, it can also fall into any of the following categories:

• hard rock
• blues rock