Lynyrd Skynyrd "Sweet Home Alabama"

"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd that first appeared in 1974 on their second album, Second Helping. "Sweet Home Alabama" was written as an answer to two songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. Van Zant's musical response, however, was also controversial, with references to Alabama Governor George Wallace (a noted supporter of segregation) and the Watergate scandal:

In Birmingham, they love the governor (boo boo boo)
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth

In 1975, Van Zant said: "The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood. The general public didn't notice the words 'Boo! Boo! Boo!' after that particular line, and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor." "The line 'We all did what we could do' is sort of ambiguous," Kooper notes "'We tried to get Wallace out of there' is how I always thought of it." Journalist John Swenson argues that the song is more complex than it is sometimes given credit for, suggesting that it only looks like an endorsement of Wallace. "Wallace and I have very little in common," Van Zant himself said, "I don't like what he says about colored people."

As of 2009, the State of Alabama has begun using the phrase "Sweet Home Alabama" as an official slogan on license plates for motor vehicles, with Governor Bob Riley noting that Lynyrd Skynyrd's anthem is the third most-played song referencing a specific destination. (This is also the second Alabama license plate in a row to reference a popular song. Sweet Home Alabama has appeared in many commercials, movies, and subsequent recordings by other bands. It remains a popular request on classic rock radio stations and has been featured in many movies, including True Romance, To Die For, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Con Air, The Waterboy, Forrest Gump, Joe Dirt, 8 Mile, The Girl Next Door, Sweet Home Alabama, "Crimson Tide" and Sahara. The song was alluded to in Warren Zevon's "Play It All Night Long" (from his 1980 album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School): "Sweet home Alabama! Play that dead band's song! Turn those speakers up full blast!". The song is also prominently mentioned in Kid Rock's "All Summer Long." The song's reach also extends to "virtual" sporting events. It was featured on the PS2 and Xbox versions of NASCAR Thunder 2002 because the game creators, EA Sports, had just announced sponsorship of the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway, located in Alabama.

In May 2006, National Review ranked the song #4 on its list of "50 greatest conservative rock songs". In July 2006, CMT ranked it #1 of the "20 Greatest Southern Rock songs". In 2004, the song was ranked #398 on Rolling Stone's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2007, the song was used in the Top Gear Greatest Driving Songs album. [Wikipedia]