High Cotton (song)
Encyclopedia
"High Cotton" is a country
song by Alabama
from their 1989 album Southern Star
. The song was one of four singles on the album to reach number one on the Hot Country Singles chart.
s and customs characteristic of religious farming families, especially during the olden days, such as taking Sunday as a strict day of rest, whether or not there was work that could be done. The whole fourth stanza
of the song references this "When Sunday mornings rolled around / We dressed up in hand-me-downs / Just in time, together with the church / Sometimes I think how long it's been / And how it impressed me then / It was the only day my daddy wouldn't work." It also glorifies a generally simple lifestyle of hard work. "I bet we walked a thousand miles /
Choppin' cotton and pushin' plows / And learnin' how to give it all we had."
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
song by Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...
from their 1989 album Southern Star
Southern Star (Alabama album)
Southern Star is the ninth studio album from country music band Alabama. It was released in February 1989. The album produced four singles, "Song of the South", "High Cotton", the title track and "If I Had You", all of which reached #1 on the Hot Country Singles charts between 1989 and 1990.-CD...
. The song was one of four singles on the album to reach number one on the Hot Country Singles chart.
Lyrics
The song is a reminiscence of the youth of the narrator, who explains how his younger days were so good, and how he didn't realize how the times would change. "We didn't know that times were lean / Around our home the grass was green / It didn't seem like things were all that bad." The song references some the moralMoral
A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
s and customs characteristic of religious farming families, especially during the olden days, such as taking Sunday as a strict day of rest, whether or not there was work that could be done. The whole fourth stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
of the song references this "When Sunday mornings rolled around / We dressed up in hand-me-downs / Just in time, together with the church / Sometimes I think how long it's been / And how it impressed me then / It was the only day my daddy wouldn't work." It also glorifies a generally simple lifestyle of hard work. "I bet we walked a thousand miles /
Choppin' cotton and pushin' plows / And learnin' how to give it all we had."
Music video
The music video consists of fairly modern (upon release of the song) footage of a farm. The early 1950s Cadillac convertible that is seen in the video is being driven by the band members of Alabama, who seem to be observing with admiration the things they are seeing that relate to the context of the song. The video was directed by Jack Cole.Chart positions
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |