Named for the Alabama 2, a legal case in the American deep South during the 1930s, in which two black men were hanged for allegedly raping a white woman. The name is also a nod to other victims of injustice like the Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4. In the United States, they are known as A3, after they were sued by the legendary country outfit Alabama.
They are perhaps best known in the United States for the remix of their song Woke Up This Morning, which appears as the theme song for the HBO hit series The Sopranos.
They have released six albums so far, with numerous bootlegs more than doubling their catalog. Alabama 3 rarely tour outside of their home country.
Recently, female singer Devlin Love has joined the group.
Additional material:
Alabama 3 are an English band mixing rock, dance, blues, country, gospel, and spoken word styles, founded in Brixton, London in 1995. In the United States, the band are known as A3, allegedly to avoid any possible legal conflict with the country music band Alabama.[1] The group achieved international fame when the producers of hit TV series The Sopranos chose the track "Woke Up This Morning" for the show's opening credits.[1]
The band are particularly notable for their fusion of styles, lyrics full of ironic intent, their deliberately humorous personas and their outrageous live performances. Every member of the group has an alias by which he is known, the band's founding members adopting the personas Larry Love (Rob Spragg) and The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love (Jake Black).
The band formed when Jake Black met Rob Spragg at an acid house party in Peckham and they decided that a fusion of country music with acid house was a musical possibility.[2] Other members of the band were accumulated over a lengthy period, but it is known that Rob Spragg was at university with Piers Marsh, the harmonica player and synth programmer for the band whilst Orlando Harrison, the group's current keyboardist, used to live with Jake Black.[2] Prior to the formation of the Alabama 3, Jake had gone through his "wilderness years" period of which there is little or no recorded output. This creative gulch lasted years following the demise of The Jangletties.
Starting their act under the alias the First Presleyterian Church of Elvis the Divine (UK), the group eventually switched names to Alabama 3 and, after having been dismissed by the mainstream media as a novelty act, the group finally signed with One Little Indian Records in 1997 for the release of debut album, Exile on Coldharbour Lane.[3]
In August 2007, the group toured under the name of Alabama 3: Acoustic and Unplugged, with Harpo Strangelove and Devlin Love, to promote their new album M.O.R. (released 10 September 2007). Bassist John "Segs" Jennings apparently left the band, saying he was "busy elsewhere and [he doesn't] have the time."[4] The band's sixth studio album album M.O.R included a cover of Jerry Reed's 1970s hit "Amos Moses" and features The Proclaimers on the track "Sweet Joy" plus piano parts on the country stomp version of the Gil Scott Heron song "The Klan", written by Heron and Brian Jackson. In September and October 2007, the band toured the UK in support of M.O.R. with Irish band Republic Of Loose supporting.
On Friday 29 February 2008, Larry Love, Devlin Love and Mark Sams did an encore with Carbon/Silicon at the seventh and final Carbon Casino gig at the Inn on the Green, under the Westway. Mick Jones joined the group on-stage to add guitar and backing vocals to a version of "Woke Up This Morning."
Having recorded and toured with the band in the early days, Aurora Dawn rejoined the band in 2009, and sometime between late 2010 and early 2011, programmer, harmonicist, and founding member Piers "Mountain of Love" Marsh left the band. Although no reason has yet been publicly given, his departure appears to be amicable, as he is still an active contributor to the band's Facebook page. He and other Alabama 3 founder member, Sir Eddie Real, are now performing new material under the name of "Mountain of Love" with vocals from various guest vocalists.
The members of the band are:
Rob Spragg AKA Larry Love: vocals
Jake Black AKA The Very Reverend Dr. D. Wayne Love: vocals
Orlando Harrison AKA The Spirit: keyboards, keyboard bass, vocals
Mark Sams AKA Rock Freebase: guitar, bass guitar
Aurora Dawn: vocals
Steve Finnerty AKA LOVEPIPE: production, guitar and vocals
Nick Reynolds AKA Harpo Strangelove: harmonica, percussion, vocals (son of Bruce Reynolds, architect of the Great Train Robbery of 1963.[5] Bruce appears on the band's 2005 album, Outlaw).
John Jennings AKA Segs: backing vocals, guitar
Past Members:
Zoe Devlin AKA Devlin Love: vocals
Jonny Delafons AKA L. B. Dope: drums, percussion
Simon (The Dude) Edwards AKA Sir Eddie Real: percussion, vocals
Piers Marsh AKA The Mountain of Love: Synths
Film:
"Peace in the Valley" is featured in the film A Life Less Ordinary (1997).
"Too Sick to Pray" plays on the radio in the film Gone in 60 Seconds (2000).
A snippet of "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" features in the film Some Voices (2000).
"Mansion on the Hill" featured on the Kurt Russell/Kevin Costner film 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001).
A part of "M.I.A" by the band is played in the film The Football Factory (2004) as the Chelsea firm travel up to Liverpool for an away match.
The song "Sister Rosetta" from Exile on Coldharbour Lane can be heard in the film Barnyard (2006).
A snippet of "Bulletproof" appears in A Very British Gangster (2007), Donal MacIntyre's documentary film about Manchester crime boss Dominic Noonan.
The song "Ain't Goin' to Goa" is featured in the motion picture Definitely, Maybe (2008).
The band is featured in the documentary We Dreamed America (2008). The film, which explores the influence of American country music on British artists, features three songs by the band.
"Mansion on the Hill" is used on the opening credits of mockumentory Good Arrows (2009), written by Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh.
Television:
Episode four of the BBC Three series Being Human features "Too Sick to Pray" at its opening and "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife" at its end. The songs were omitted from the DVD release of the episode due to copyright issues.[citation needed]
"Mansion on the Hill" features in the sixth episode of the ABC television series Carpoolers.
The closing scene to first season Criminal Minds episode titled "Won't Get Fooled Again" (10/05/05) plays "The Night We Nearly Got Busted".
A shortened alternate version of "Woke Up This Morning" can be heard for nearly 50 seconds in The Simpsons episode "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge", while Fat Tony and his gang are on the ride to the Simpsons' house. The sequence is a parody of the opening sequence of The Sopranos.
"Woke Up This Morning" is also in the later Simpsons episode "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer", which guest-starred Sopranos regulars Michael Imperioli and Joe Pantoliano.
A remixed version of "Woke Up This Morning" plays during the opening credits of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
On the Region 4 DVD release of season one of The Sopranos, the music video to "Woke Up This Morning" is included as a special feature; it is incorrectly credited as being performed by "Alabama 5".
A snippet of "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife" can be heard at the beginning of The Sopranos: "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" (episode 3.1) as Tony Soprano walks down the driveway to get his morning newspaper.
"Woke Up This Morning" was also used in an episode of BBC series Top Gear, in which the team were driving through Alabama.
"Mao Tse Tung Said" features in the first episode of the second season of Torchwood Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang.
Rob Spragg (as Rob Love) wrote and recorded the theme to Welsh TV series Y Pris. He and John Hardy won the Best Original Music Soundtrack award at BAFTA Cymru 2008
Hotel California
Alabama 3 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the captain,
'Please bring me my wine'
He said, 'we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis
Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!
The lyrics to Alabama 3’s “Hotel California” is a tribute to the classic song of the same name by The Eagles. The song is about a man who is traveling on a dark desert highway, who eventually comes across the “Hotel California”. Upon his arrival, he is greeted by a mysterious woman who guides him into the hotel. As he explores the hotel, he witnesses strange events such as the guests dancing in the courtyard and the “masters” feasting and stabbing a beast. The man tries to leave but the night man tells him that he can check out anytime he wants but he could never leave. The lyrics can be interpreted in a number of ways, but it is widely believed to be about the dangers of materialism and excess.
The song includes several references to drug culture. “Colitas” for example, means marijuana buds in Spanish, while Tiffany is commonly used as a reference to cocaine use in popular culture. Likewise, the eerie and eerie atmosphere created by the lyrics is believed to describe a sort of paranoid delusion that is induced by long-term drug use.
Line by Line Meaning
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
I was driving alone on a deserted highway with the cool wind blowing through my hair.
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
I could smell the sweet, herbal scent of burning marijuana in the air.
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
I saw a bright light in the distance that caught my attention.
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I became exhausted and my vision started to fade.
I had to stop for the night
I needed to find a place to stop and rest for the night.
There she stood in the doorway;
As soon as I arrived, a woman appeared in the doorway.
I heard the mission bell
I heard the sound of a bell ringing, possibly from a nearby mission.
And I was thinking to myself, 'This could be heaven or this could be hell'
I wondered what kind of place I had wandered into, whether it was a paradise or a living nightmare.
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
The woman lit a candle to guide me and show me the way around the place.
There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say
I heard some people talking quietly somewhere nearby, but I wasn't sure what they were saying.
Welcome to the Hotel California
I soon realized that I had arrived at the infamous Hotel California.
Such a lovely place
The hotel was indeed beautiful and quaint.
Such a lovely face
The woman who greeted me was beautiful and friendly.
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
The hotel had many vacant rooms to choose from.
Any time of year, you can find it here
The hotel was open year-round and always available to travelers in need of lodging.
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz
The woman who greeted me was beautiful but had a twisted, distorted way of thinking. She drove a fancy Mercedes Benz and surrounded herself with attractive young men.
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
The woman had a group of handsome young men around her, whom she called her friends.
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
The young men danced in the courtyard, sweating in the summer heat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
Some of the young men danced to remember good times, while others danced to forget painful memories or emotions.
So I called up the captain, 'Please bring me my wine'
I asked the hotel captain to bring me some wine to drink.
He said, 'we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine'
The captain told me that the hotel hadn't served that kind of wine since 1969.
And still those voices are calling from far away, Wake you up in the middle of the night Just to hear them say
Even when I wasn't expecting it, I could hear voices coming from somewhere far away. Sometimes they woke me up in the middle of the night, just to say something obscure or unclear.
Mirrors on the ceiling, The pink champagne on ice
As I explored the hotel, I discovered there were mirrors on the ceilings and some pink champagne on ice to drink.
And she said 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
The woman who greeted me said that everyone in the hotel was essentially trapped there by their own actions or choices.
And in the master's chambers, They gathered for the feast, The stab it with their steely knives, But they just can't kill the beast
In one room of the hotel, a group of people were gathered to enjoy a feast. They tried unsuccessfully to kill some kind of beast with their metal knives and weapons.
Last thing I remember, I was Running for the door, I had to find the passage back To the place I was before
The last thing I remember was running towards the exit, trying to find my way back to where I started from.
'Relax,' said the night man, We are programmed to receive. You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave!
The night manager told me to relax and promised that I could check out of the hotel whenever I wanted, but he suggested I never would because I was somehow psychologically programmed to stay.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DON FELDER, DON HENLEY, GLENN FREY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind