Once in a pool place, about 7 years, I was listening to the juke box play “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. My friend told me that the song was a song response to Neil Young’s “Southern Cross.” Upon hearing close the song, it did seem to insinuate a song by Neil Young. Some years later, I did hear “Southern Cross” and could see why a couple of good-ole boy Souther rockers might get po’d enough to write “Sweet Home Alabama.” So, I thought I had finally closed this personal curiosity, until . . …I asked a friend of mine if he had ever heard of this musical fight. He said that such did not exist and that “Souther Cross” song referred to a constallation. So o o o o, I am back where I started. Is “Sweet Home Alabama” really a “dis” to Neil Young? Is “Southern Cross” a commentary on racism in the South? Or is all of this just pure hokum?
You’re close. The song that Ronnie Van Zandt was taking aim on was “Southern Man”, not “Southern Cross”. Y’know, the one that has the song ‘now your crosses are burning fast’. You can see why they weren’t too fond of old Neil…
-sb
They say the Lord loves drunks, fools and little children.
Two out of three ain’t bad.
You may be getting confused since Southern Cross was the name of a hit song by Crosby, Stills, & Nash.
Assuming you meant Southern Man, it’s obviously about slavery. Take lines like these :
“I heard screaming and bullwhips cracking”
“I seen your black man coming 'round. Swear by God I’m gonna cut him down.”
As far as Sweet Home Alabama being a response, geez, just listen to the song :
“I hope Neil Young will remember a southern man don’t need him around anyhow.”
The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who
have lost the power of reasoning.
–Voltaire
Welcome to the board Burn, and good question.
Southern Cross was actually a Crosby, Stills & Nash tune, recorded during one of their many reunions, in the late 1970s, I think. Neil Young was an occasional member of that band, but I don’t think he played on that tune.
The song your friend referred to was Southern Man, from Neil’s album After The Gold Rush, released in 1970. Sweet Home Alabama’s lyrics include the verse,
Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her,
Well I heard old Neil put her down.
Well I hope Neil Young will remember,
A Southern Man don’t need him around, anyhow.
The first two lines of the verse indicate that the song Lynyrd Skynyrd actually responded to is called Alabama (I’m not sure which album it’s on: Harvest, maybe?). With lines like, “Your Cadillac has a wheel in the ditch, and a wheel on the track”, Neil obviously irritated Lynyrd Skynyrd enough to respond, and the rest is musical history.
“You can observe a lot just by watching.” – Yogi Berra
I vaguely recall that CSNY had another song called “Alabama” that was less-than-complimentary as well.
“You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment.” - Bill Hicks
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young are now touring for the first time in 17 years. I read a review of their first gig (Detroit?) - they’re doing a three-hour (!) set, including a kick-ass rendition of Southern Man. That song pissed the rednecks off, bigtime.
I always thought it ironic the band responsible for the lines “Sweet home Alabama, where the skies are smooth” was almost completely wiped out in a plane crash.
Nickrz, I think the lines are:
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
AH! “Souther Cross” and “Souther Man”! Oh, well, thanks for all the responses. Now, onward to heavier questions. 
You can find a discussion on the subject here.
South Talkin’ – Sweet Home Alabama
The author of that page says:
Sweet Home Alabama is a response to both “Southern Man” and Alabama. In interviews, Ronnie Van Zant explained: “We wrote ‘[Sweet Home] Alabama’ as a joke. We didn’t even think about it - the words just came out that way. We just laughed and said ‘Ain’t that funny’… We love Neil Young; we love his music.” However, the author of the page suggests that Ronnie Van Zant might have claimed that in the interview to avoid ruffling feathers.
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock indicates that Neil Young may have written the song “Walk On” as a rebuttal to “Sweet Home Alabama.”
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. www.sff.net/people/rothman
Well, I’d take Neil Young OR Lynyrd Skynyrd over 99% of what passes for music these days.
Lynyrd Skynyrd was not a redneck band anyway. You might want to listen to ‘Saturday Night Special’ to see what they thought about handguns.