Ronnie van Zandt was absolutely the father figure for the rest of the band. This song is him heavily scolding Gary Rossington and Allen Collins for two separate DUI car crashes on the same Labor Day weekend. These quotes Ronnie gave to the LA Times in 1976 are interesting:
"We were babies when we started this band,” he states, “and, to me, the other guys still are. There was a time when I’d get really drunk in this bar and say, ‘Who is the meanest mother here?’ You got a date with me outside.’ For the hell of it. The other guys are mostly still at that point. They’ll learn.”
“It’s a terrible thing when you get behind the wheel and you’re so drunk that you can’t drive a car to begin with. Those boys will pay for it. Allen hit a parked Volkswagen and knocked it across an empty parking lot. That was just a fender-bender compared to Gary’s. I can’t tell you how mad I got at him for that. We’re glad he’s gonna make it, he’s tremendously lucky to be alive… but it was his fault. He passed out at the wheel of his brand new Ford Torino, with his foot on the gas. He knocked down a telephone pole, split an oak tree and did $7,000 worth of damage to a house. That’s being just plain stupid. I told him that on his hospital bed.”
Gary Rossington: "Unfortunately, that song is kinda about me and a lot of other people. One night, back when I didn't know any better, I was doing Quaaludes and drinking and went out on Labor Day weekend. I had this friend playing at a teen den, and I took this girl with me. We got crazy, and on the way home I ran into an oak tree, knocked out some teeth and got in trouble. That song's just about getting caught up in the times. We know now that drinking, drugs and shooting means death. That's not what we're about now."
Allen Collins' drug and alcohol abuse continued to worsen, sadly, and he had another DUI crash in 1986 that killed his extramarital girlfriend and paralyzed him from the waist down (as well as part of his arms). As part of his plea agreement to avoid prison time, he had to get on stage at every single show on the Tribute Tour and tell the crowd exactly what he'd done and why he'd never be able to play guitar again. He ended up dying of pneumonia related to his paralysis just 4 years later. He was 37.
Ronnie van Zandt was absolutely the father figure for the rest of the band. This song is him heavily scolding Gary Rossington and Allen Collins for two separate DUI car crashes on the same Labor Day weekend. These quotes Ronnie gave to the LA Times in 1976 are interesting:
"We were babies when we started this band,” he states, “and, to me, the other guys still are. There was a time when I’d get really drunk in this bar and say, ‘Who is the meanest mother here?’ You got a date with me outside.’ For the hell of it. The other guys are mostly still at that point. They’ll learn.”
“It’s a terrible thing when you get behind the wheel and you’re so drunk that you can’t drive a car to begin with. Those boys will pay for it. Allen hit a parked Volkswagen and knocked it across an empty parking lot. That was just a fender-bender compared to Gary’s. I can’t tell you how mad I got at him for that. We’re glad he’s gonna make it, he’s tremendously lucky to be alive… but it was his fault. He passed out at the wheel of his brand new Ford Torino, with his foot on the gas. He knocked down a telephone pole, split an oak tree and did $7,000 worth of damage to a house. That’s being just plain stupid. I told him that on his hospital bed.”
Gary Rossington: "Unfortunately, that song is kinda about me and a lot of other people. One night, back when I didn't know any better, I was doing Quaaludes and drinking and went out on Labor Day weekend. I had this friend playing at a teen den, and I took this girl with me. We got crazy, and on the way home I ran into an oak tree, knocked out some teeth and got in trouble. That song's just about getting caught up in the times. We know now that drinking, drugs and shooting means death. That's not what we're about now."
Allen Collins' drug and alcohol abuse continued to worsen, sadly, and he had another DUI crash in 1986 that killed his extramarital girlfriend and paralyzed him from the waist down (as well as part of his arms). As part of his plea agreement to avoid prison time, he had to get on stage at every single show on the Tribute Tour and tell the crowd exactly what he'd done and why he'd never be able to play guitar again. He ended up dying of pneumonia related to his paralysis just 4 years later. He was 37.