Sweet home Alabama /Where the skies are so blue /Sweet home Alabama/
Lord, I’m coming home to you. — Lynyrd Skynyrd

I decided to pick the song Sweet Home Alabama because I grew up listening to this song. It was one of the first songs I ever remember my dad playing for me as a kid. My dad is a huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fan and I remember jamming out to their songs on every road trip. There’s just something about that country rock ‘n’ roll and that first iconic guitar riff of Sweet Home Alabama that I fell in love with. It’s a fun go to song that shows off the spirit of the patriotic American dream. The song gives you a taste of southern hospitality, charm, and a slower pace of life. It always picks me up when I’m feeling stressed or down, just because it’s such a fun song and reminds me of some of my childhood memories.

Here’s some background info on the band before I get into the song. Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band that contributed to the popularity of the Southern rock genre during the 1970’s. The band started in Jacksonville, Florida with the original name the Noble Five, changing it later to One Percent, then finally settling on Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band’s final name was inspired after Leonard Skinnerd, a strict gym teacher the boys had in high school. The original members of the band consisted of Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, and Larry Junstrom. Unfortunately towards the peak of the band’s career, Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gains, and background singer Cassie Gaines died in a plane crash in 1977. The band has sold around 28 million records in the U.S. alone and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.

The song is actually a response to the songs “Southern Man” and “Alabama” by Neil Young. In both songs, Neil Young sums up the entire south in a racist manner, causing a feud between himself and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

When the song was made, George Wallace was the governor of Alabama. He was best known for his opposition to integration. The line, “In Birmingham they love the governor”, along with criticisms of Neil Young throughout the song led people to believe the band was racist when in fact after that line you can hear the words, “Boo! Boo! Boo!” and “We all did what we could do”, which is actually a reference to people who tried to vote Wallace out of office. In the line, “Now Watergate does not bother me/ Does your conscience bother you?” is in reference to the fact the band wasn’t judging all northerners to be bad people just because the president committed bad acts, as people shouldn’t judge Alabama for the actions of George Wallace.

I hope y’all enjoyed my first post:)

Marissa