When thousands of Georgia football fans sit in the confines of Neyland Stadium this weekend, they will no doubt be treated to more choruses of "Rocky Top" than they can stand.
For years the song has been the unofficial fight song of the University of Tennessee Vols. Yet, few fans today know much about the song or where Rocky Top, Tenn., is located.
According to the friendly folks at the Gatlinburg Inn in downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn., the song was written by Boudleaux (pronounced Booed-low) and Felice (pronounced Fe-leece) Bryant at the popular motel in 1967. Boudleaux was a native of Shellman, Ga., while Felice was born in Milwaukee, Wis. Felice died in Knoxville on April 22, 2003.
The Bryants, according to an article (http://www.smokiestraveler.com/rockytop.htm) by Dean Stone in the Maryville Daily Times, were the first people to make a living writing songs in Nashville. Mrs. Bryant was "a small Italian-American ex-dancer from Milwaukee, and he, a tall Georgia-born, onetime violinist, began writing country hits in the late 1940s and broadened the definitions of country music with the Osborne Brothers' "Rocky Top" in 1968."
Their hit songs include: "All I Have to Do Is Dream," "Bye, Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," "Love Hurts," "Take a Message to Mary" and "Take Me As I Am (or Let Me Go)."
Rocky Top was adopted as an official song of Tennessee by Chapter 545 of the Public acts of 1982. It is one of six state songs: "My Homeland, Tennessee," "When It's Iris Time in Tennessee," "My Tennessee," "Tennessee Waltz" and "Tennessee."
Rocky Top, Tenn.? "There are three such rocky outcroppings with the official name of Rocky Top in Tennessee," notes the Mr. Stone, " The middle one is on the Tennessee-North Carolina state line on Thunderhead Mountain, partially in Blount County, Tennessee, and in Swain County, North Carolina. The northern most one is in Cocke County, Tennessee, and the southern most one is astride the state line in Monroe County, Tennessee, and Cherokee County, N.C."
"Rocky Top," according to the Tennessee State Blue Book:
"Wish that I was on Ol' Rocky Top,
down in the Tennessee hills;
Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top;
Ain't no telephone bills;
Once I had a girl on Rocky Top;
Half bear, other half cat;
Wild as a mink, but sweet as soda pop,
I still dream about that;
Once two strangers climbed ol' Rocky Top,
looking for a moonshine still;
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top;
Reckon they never will;
Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top;
Dirt's too rocky by far;
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
get their corn from a jar;
I've had years of cramped-up city life
trapped like a duck in a pen;
All I know is it's a pity life
Can't be simple again."
Chorus:
"Rocky Top, you'll always be
home sweet home to me;
Good ol' Rocky Top;
Rocky Top, Tennessee;
Rocky Top, Tennessee