re: #414 Occasional Reader

I really don’t already know. So impart away.

It’s Governor Wallace, and it’s a reference to segregation. The lines are:

In Birmingham, they love the governor (boo boo boo)
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

A lot of people took it as supporting segregation, but the band members say that’s not the case, as this charming quote from Wikipedia suggests:

In 1975, Van Zant said: “The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. The general public didn’t notice the words ‘Boo! Boo! Boo!’ after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor.”[3] “The line ‘We all did what we could do’ is sort of ambiguous,” Kooper notes “‘We tried to get Wallace out of there’ is how I always thought of it.”[3] Journalist John Swenson argues that the song is more complex than it is sometimes given credit for, suggesting that it only looks like an endorsement of Wallace.[3] “Wallace and I have very little in common,” Van Zant himself said, “I don’t like what he says about colored people.”[3]

Personally, I always thought the Boos were Woo-hoos and it was a statement of support of Wallace.