“Sweet Home Alabama” Lyrics & Meaning (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Sweet Home Alabama is the biggest southern rock hit ever.

There is no disputing that.

It is also a controversial song, with a somewhat disturbing history.

There is no disputing that either.

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote it in response to another famous musician, as a defense of southern values.

But perhaps, not all southern values of the time period deserved defending.

However you feel about the meaning of the song, there is no denying it is an absolute classic.

Let’s take a closer look at the controversial lyrics and see if we can figure out what they mean.

 

Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics And Meaning

Some music has become synonymous with the southern United States. Creedence Clearwater Revival springs to mind. But perhaps the single most “southern” song ever released is Sweet Home Alabama, by the mythical and tragic band, Lynyrd Skynyrd.

This song was released in 1974, as a single from the band’s second album Second Helping. Many saw it as a piece of music that defended the way of life of the southern states, particularly Alabama.

This generated a lot of controversy, because this defense included the then-governor of the state, a staunch supporter of segregation. We’ll get into all of that below.

Whatever the meaning, the catchy guitar riff made this song a hit that still enjoys huge popularity today. It climbed up to number 8 on the US charts in 1974 and was the band’s highest-charting single. Let’s look at the lyrics, before diving into the meaning behind them.

 

Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics

Verse 1

Big wheels keep on turnin’
Carry me home to see my kin
Singin’ songs about the southland
I miss Alabamy once again
And I think it’s a sin, yes

Verse 2

Well I heard Mr Young sing about her (Southern man)
Well, I heard ol’ Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don’t need him around, anyhow

Chorus

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you

Verse 3

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

Chorus

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
Here I come, Alabama

Bridge

(Ah-ah-ah, Alabama
Ah-ah-ah, Alabama
Ah-ah-ah, Alabama
Ah-ah-ah, Alabama)

Verse 4

Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers
And they’ve been known to pick a song or two (Yes, they do)
Lord, they get me off so much
They pick me up when I’m feeling blue
Now how ’bout you?

Chorus

Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I’m coming home to you
Sweet home Alabama (Oh, sweet home, baby)
Where the skies are so blue (And the governor’s true)
Sweet home Alabama (Lordy)
Lord, I’m coming home to you (Yeah, yeah)

Mont… Montgomery’s got the answer

 

Sweet Home Alabama Meaning

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote Sweet Home Alabama as a critical response to two songs by Neil Young: Southern Man and Alabama. They felt that both songs take the entire south to task for racism.

In response, they wrote a song to defend the south. Lynyrd Skynyrd was always a big proponent of the values and way of life in the southern United States and songs like Sweet Home Alabama and Free Bird have become quintessential southern rock classics.

The lyrics to Sweet Home Alabama dedicate an entire verse to Neil Young and mention him by name several times. As mentioned above, they also refer to the then-governor of Alabama and seem to defend him and his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

 

George Wallace And Watergate

When it comes to Watergate, some saw this as an attack on northern liberals who overreacted to Nixon’s Watergate scandal, while others saw it as the band speaking for the south and defending it against the north, saying they don’t want to be judged by the actions of a few bad apples, just like southerners are also not blaming the entire north for the Watergate scandal.

Indeed, the vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, who died in a plane crash at the age of 29 in 1977, said that the music was not intended to be a defense of the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, who was a staunch defender of segregation.

“Wallace and I have very little in common. I don’t like what he says about colored people,” said Van Zant.

He and most of the band claimed that the lyrics were ironic: the line “In Birmingham they love the governor” is followed by three boos, which they claim were in response to that love of the governor.

They claim the next line “Now we all did what we could do” means they did what they could to get rid of Wallace.

However, in 20009 Ed King, co-writer of the song and guitarist of the band, contradicted this. He said the boos referred to northerners reacting to Alabama’s love of Wallace, but they love him in the south because he stood up for the average southern man.

King says “Now we all did what we could do” actually meant that they all did everything they could to get Wallace elected president. The following lines about Watergate thus refer to that scandal ruining Wallace’s chances of becoming president of the US.

However you choose to interpret these lyrics, it is undeniable that the song is marked by political and social events of the time. It clearly illustrates the contrast between the South and the North.

It is not surprising that in May 2006, the National Review ranked Sweet Home Alabama in fourth place in a list of the 50 most conservative rock songs. But it is a great song, even with the politics removed. All it takes to agree with that are those wonderful initial arpeggios of the guitars!

 

Neil Young

Rivers of ink have flowed in the history of rock’n’roll about the famous controversy between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young in the seventies.

On the one side, you have purebred southerners, with a reputation for drinking, fighting, and flying the confederate flag on stage during their concerts, to remind the audience of the American civil war, which the south lost a hundred years ago.

One the other side, you have another rock heavyweight, but one who is the complete opposite. Neil Young is Canadian, educated and progressive, and he tended to give moral lessons from the north of the United States.

As mentioned, Neil Young had written two songs a few years earlier entitled Southern Man and Alabama”. In the lyrics, he openly criticized the blatant racism of that Southern state.

And yes, Young was not without reason, because Alabama had been infamous in the previous decade for its enormous racial conflicts. It was the state where the African-American Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger.

It was also where race riots took place in Birmingham in 1963, the capital of the most segregated state in the south, with harsh laws against blacks. It was the place that consecrated the fight for civil rights led by Martin Luther King.

All of this inspired Neil Young to write his two songs, in which he questioned the whites of Alabama. He basically accused them of being accomplices to the racism and oppression.

Even though two of the writers of Sweet Home Alabama were from Florida and the third from California, Lynyrd Skynyrd felt the need to defend Alabama and the southern way of life.

They wrote this rock’n’roll gem in response. They dedicated an entire verse to the Canadian Young, saying southerners have no need for him or his opinion. The rest of he lyrics praise various aspects of the south.

They mention the beautiful blue sky and what a pleasure it is to live in Alabama. They also seem to praise Wallace, as mentioned above.

 

Are Lynyrd Skynyrd Racist?

Honestly, who knows? The Lynyrd Skynyrd of the 1960s and 1970s weren’t the most sophisticated guys in the world. The stories about their fights in the dressing rooms or in bars did not help their cause. The original five members had a habit of raising hell.

But were they racists? They were southern. Race relations in the south have always been, and still are, different than in the north. We wil never know exactly what the writers of the song were thinking when they wrote it.

It is best just to enjoy it as a great song, and not worry too much of the lyrics. That’s what you generally need to do with most music anyway.

Perhaps it is also worth remembering that in the Allman Brothers Band there were even worse individuals. Of course, the Allmans, even if they were very primitive (they, not their refined music), could never be accused of racism.

But the Allmans also didn’t record a song like Sweet Home Alabama, which was misunderstood in its day and has continued to be misunderstood in the decades since.

As we would say today, it was a smack in the mouth of good old Neil Young. But he took the hit well. He applauded the song and agreed that the lyrics to his song Alabama were not great. He also became a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd, as they were of his.

In fact, it was not uncommon to see their singer and frontman, Ronnie Van Zant, perform at his concerts wearing a Neil Young T-shirt. And when the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crashed in 1977, killing several members of the group, the Canadian performed a version of Sweet Home Alabama in tribute to his friends and rivals at his first concert after the tragedy.

Both parties resolved their little spat with a chivalry unusual in the world of rock. And no, they were not enemies, nor did they hate each other. Nor was the best song in the history of southern rock racist, although it may have been defending racist ideas, not directly, but as a by-product of defending the south.

Let’s all enjoy this authentic wonder that stands out for its three guitars, its playful piano, and its female choirs. It is a glorious page from the songbook of the twentieth century and of southern rock.

 

Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama is the biggest southern rock hit of all time. It is an absolute classic. But the lyrics are not without controversy.

Even the Lynyrd Skynyrd themselves can’t seem to agree what they meant when they wrote the lyrics, but it seems some of them are perhaps reluctant to be honest about what they were truly feeling at the time.

Whatever the case may be there it is best to enjoy the song as a great song, and to not worry about the lyrics themselves. That is what we do every day with brainless pop songs, after all.

If you are a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan, we included their song Storm in our article on songs about storms here.

If you liked this article, check out our discussion of the Southern Cross lyrics meaning. That song also has a Neil Young connection, although he did not have anything to do with creating the actual song in that case either.

For another southern song, but much more modern, check out our breakdown of the Fancy Like lyrics and their meaning.