Rocky Top

Single infobox
Name = Rocky Top


Artist = Osborne Brothers
from Album =
Released = 1967
Format =
Genre = Bluegrass
Length = 02:35
Label = Decca/MCA
Certification =
Chart position =
* #33 US CountrySingle infobox
Name = Rocky Top


Artist = Lynn Anderson
from Album =
Released = 1970
Format =
Genre = Country-Bluegrass
Length = 02:39
Label = Chart
Certification =
Chart position =
* #17 US Country

"Rocky Top" is one of seven official state songs of the state of Tennessee, as well as the unofficial fight song for the University of Tennessee Volunteers. The two best-known versions of the song are by the Osborne Brothers and Lynn Anderson. The Osborne Brothers first had a regional hit with the song in 1967, however, it was Lynn Anderson's version that was the mainstream country hit in 1970.

Background

The song was written by a married couple, songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. They wrote "Rocky Top" in only ten minutes in 1967. The Bryants were working in Gatlinburg on a collection of slow-tempo songs for a project for Archie Campbell and Chet Atkins. Writing the fast-paced "Rocky Top" served as a temporary diversion for them. Recorded by the Osborne Brothers in 1967, the song was a top 40 hit on the country music charts in early 1968.

Although a staple of their concerts, the song did not achieve mass popularity until Lynn Anderson had a hit with it in 1970, and when the "Pride of the Southland" University of Tennessee marching band used it for one of their drills in 1972. The song was very popular and was officially adopted as a state song in 1982. In the 1970s, the song achieved such popularity among bar crowds that the Chapel Hill, North Carolina, old-time band the Red Clay Ramblers [http://originalredclayramblers.com/music.htm] national tours included a crowd-pleasing satire informally titled "Play 'Rocky Top' (or I'll Punch Your Lights Out.)" [http://efolkmusic.org/ArtMusic/viewdownload.asp?AID=118&Artist=The+Red+Clay+Ramblers]

The song describes a place called Rocky Top, Tennessee, which is one of the peaks of Thunderhead Mountain located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). Thunderhead straddles the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. [http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/landforms/tom.php?lat=35.5644&lon=-83.7141&scale=50&maptype=DRG25&wpt=BTR001] [http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=35.56389&lon=-83.71389] The Appalachian Trail crosses the GSMNP in a southwest-to-northeast direction, taking hikers directly over Rocky Top.

Despite its fast and upbeat tempo, the song's first verse is actually a lament over a failed love affair and a vanishing way of life. The song's second verse is an ode to two apparent revenuers and the illegal production of alcoholic beverages by moonshining, with a reference to "looking for a moonshine still." These are all common country music themes. With its good-natured regional references to a carefree lifestyle, the singing of "Rocky Top" by Tennessee college students and alumni at sports venues such as Neyland Stadium is well established. The University of Tennessee has been granted a perpetual license to play the song as much and as often as success on the field dictates by the copyright holders, House of Bryant.

Contrary to popular belief, "Rocky Top" is not UT's official fight song, although it is so closely identified with the university that many believe this to be the case. UT's official fight song is a radically different tune called "Down the Field", adapted from the Yale University fight song "Down the Field".Fact|date=April 2008

"Operation Rocky Top" was the FBI's code name for a public corruption investigation into the Tennessee state government in the late 1980s which resulted in the eventual suicide of the Tennessee Secretary of State, Gentry Crowell, and the incarceration of several other individuals, most notably state House Majority Leader Tommy Burnette. The focus of the investigation was the illegal sale of bingo licenses.

The jam band Phish played "Rocky Top" regularly from 1987 to 2003. There have been additional cover versions of the song by The Schwag and such country music artists as Dolly Parton, Conway Twitty, and Billie Jo Spears. The country rock group the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has also tackled the song. Fact|date=April 2008

In 2005, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ranked "Rocky Top" number seven on its list of 100 Songs of the South.Fact|date=April 2008

The Disneyland, Paris 2007–2008 winter season show, "Mickey's Winter Wonderland" includes the song, performed by a group of bears.Fact|date=April 2008

External links

* [http://tngal.freeservers.com/rockytoplyrics.html "Rocky Top" complete lyrics]
* [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=17:1301677 Allmusic Entry]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dHNrXYypJg University of Tennessee Alma Mater and slideshow]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA-e1hl-tcg Pat Summit sings "Rocky Top"]