THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

204-Lynyrd Skynyrd-Sweet Home Alabama.

1976-Number 21 single.

Best Bit-At 0.02.’And we were trying different things and we were smoking funny things, making love out by the lake to our favourite song.’

Lynyrd Skynyrd (see also best songs 12) were formed in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, in 1964. Tragedy struck on October 20th, 1977, when their chartered airplane crashed after running out of fuel, the pilot attempted an emergency landing before crashing in a heavily forested area five miles northeast of Gillsgurg, Mississippi. Band members Ronnie Van Zant, (1948-1977) and Steve Gaines, (1949-1977) along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, (1948-1977) who was Steve’s older sister, and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, (1949-1977) pilot Walter McCreary, (1943-1977) and co-pilot William Gray (1945-1977) were killed on impact. Other band members Allen Collins, (1952-1990) Gary Rossington, Leon Wilkeson, (1952-2001) Billy Powell, (1952-2009) Artimus Pyle, and Leslie Hawkins, plus tour manager Ron Eckerman, (1951-2014) and several road crew members suffered serious injuries. In total their have been 27 different members of Lynyrd Skynyrd who remain active, with Gary Rossington being the bands only constant.

‘Sweet Home Alabama’ was the second and final single released from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s second studio Album ‘Second Helping’ from January 1974, the song was co-written by Ed King, Gary Rossington, and Ronnie Van Zant. ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ was written as an answer song to ‘Southern Man,’ and ‘Alabama,’ which were two songs that had been written and recorded by Neil Young (see also best songs 602 and 417.) ‘Southern Man’ is a scathing attack on the American South, taking it to task over it’s bloody history, and slavery, Ronnie Van Zant said,’We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two,’ In Neil Young’s 2012 autobiography he said,’My own song ‘Alabama’ richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don’t like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue.’ The other subjects raised in ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ are ‘Watergate,’ and the then Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, (1919-1998) who was a staunch supporter of racial segregation. Neil Young is name checked in the song, as are the ‘Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section,’ who are nicknamed ‘The Swampers,’ and produced, or engineered, or played on more than 500 studio recordings for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones.

‘Well I heard Mister Young sing about her, well I heard ole Neil put her down. Well, I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern man don’t need him around anyhow.’