Because no matter where you're from, sweet home Alabama or sweet home Florida or sweet home Arkansas, you can relate. It wasn't cutting him down, it was cutting the song he wrote about the South down. And so Ronnie just said, 'We need to show people how the real Alabama is.' We loved Neil Young and all the music he's given the world. Neil Young had 'Southern Man,' and it was kind of cutting the South down. When we were out in the country driving all the time, we would listen to the radio. We had toured there, going all around playing clubs and National Guard armories. Rossington said: Everyone thought it was about Neil Young, but it was more about Alabama. Not only was the band not trying to rip into Young, but they wanted to write a song that everyone - regardless of where they lived - could enjoy. Nearly 40 years after the release of “Second Helping,” Gary Rossington, one of the surviving members of Lynyrd Skynyrd spoke to Garden & Gun about the band’s feud with Young and he elucidated on the group’s feeling on the singer, and the meaning behind the song. We just laughed like hell, and said 'Ain't that funny'. We didn't even think about it - the words just came out that way. We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong… We wrote 'Alabama' as a joke. Singer Ronnie Van Zant said: We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two. Rather than trying to be defenders of the flag, the band just wanted to set Young straight and let him know that everyone from the south isn’t some hate-spewing hayseed. The lyrics to the single earned the band a reputation not only as Neil Young haters but as defenders of the south, something that they may have not actually wanted. It seemed as if they were preparing for World War Rock. Young sing about herĪ southern man don't need him around anyhow The lyrics to the song went Well I heard Mr. Two years after Young's "Southern Man" (and two after "Alabama"), Lynyrd Skynyrd released Second Helping, and the opening track "Sweet Home Alabama" was clearly a shot at Young.
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