Alabama will get the full lyric analysis treatment after Indigo’ Park is out on April 3. We’ll try to decode the meaning (or have fun trying!) and post it here.
Alabama: Meaning of the song
Alabama is one of two songs on this record that were co-written with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.
From the Indigo Park press release:
“Hornsby mentions “Alabama” as an example of his current experimental disposition, his predilection for worlds-in-collision smashups. It’s built around a collage-style array of loops, and includes an interpolation of Ligeti’s etude “L’Escalier Du Diable.” It’s tricky, stretchy music; Hornsby anticipates having to practice that passage for a while before he’ll be ready to perform it live. The track features a piano solo, something he hasn’t included on a record in years; he describes the inquisitive, fiery improvisation as “not your father’s Bruce Hornsby solo.”
“When he first got Hunter’s lyrics, Hornsby recalls, he didn’t know what to do with them. “He was apologetic when he sent that one. The note said, ‘I don’t know what’s in here. I don’t know if there’s anything in here. I know it’s crazy as hell, but here it is.’ Maybe he was just trying to get it off his desk or something.”