re: Rocky Top does not exist

I guess you've never been to Gaitlinburg.

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man!
Look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

Rocky Top very much exists. It's the westernmost peak of Thunderhead. Hikers know it as a nasty climb up from Cades Cove. Check out any topo map, and you'll see it.

Rocky Top is Real

So u guys r all singing about making your home on a rocky peak?

that's just weird

The Appalachian mountains are held in high regard and a thing of pride for us. Of course we call them home.



This is Clingmans Dome. If you were to follow that picture along the crest of the highest ridge it would take you to Rocky Top. It's on the back side of Blount County not far from Townsend

Heritage HS?

About like the view at Bristol will be

Heritage indeed! We may have stunk at sports, but we (along with many other schools) had quality scenery.

I will say viewing Thunderhead makes me feel at home. One does not have to be perched atop it.

The story of 'Rocky Top' is one of true love and happiness.

"Boudleaux Bryant was born in Shellman, Georgia in 1920 and attended local schools as a child. He trained as a classical violinist. Although he performed with the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra during its 1937-38 season, he had more interest in country "fiddling."

He joined Hank Penny and his Radio Cowboys, an Atlanta-based western music band. In 1945 Bryant met Matilda Genevieve Scaduto, whom he called Felice, while performing at a hotel in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was born in the city in 1925 to an ethnic Italian family. She used to write lyrics to traditional Italian tunes. During World War II, she sang and directed shows at the local USO.[2]

Bryant and Scaduto eloped two days after meeting.[2] Their song, "All I Have To Do Is Dream," is autobiographical for Felice. She was working as an elevator operator at the Sherwood Hotel when she saw Bryant. She has said that she "recognized" him immediately; she had seen his face in a dream when she was eight years old, and had "looked for him forever." She was nineteen when they met....'

The Bryants eventually moved to a house not far from Nashville on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near friends Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. In 1978, they moved to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They had often stayed at The Gatlinburg Inn, where they wrote numerous songs, including "Rocky Top." They purchased the "Rocky Top Village Inn" in the town next to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In 1979 they released their own album called A Touch of Bryant. "Rocky Top", written in 1967, was adopted as a state song by Tennessee in 1982, and as the unofficial fight song for the University of Tennessee sports teams. The Bryants wrote more than 6,000 songs, some 1,500 of which were recorded.[2]"

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded it. I recall hearing it about 1970 or so.

ROCKY TOP

CHARLIE DANIELS

Walt

UT '81