# Meaning of Sweet Home Alabama Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510 "2007-04-03T01:44:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/1 "2007-04-03T01:44:27Z")
So I don’t really know much of the context of the song, but I heard that it was written in response to “Southern Man,” and the lyrics apparently have some kind of political meaning - talking about the governor, and “watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you?” What were the political meanings of the song they hope to convey? Did they support Richard Nixon, for example? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/2 "2007-04-03T02:42:37Z")
[QUOTE=wevets] So I don’t really know much of the context of the song, but I heard that it was written in response to “Southern Man,” and the lyrics apparently have some kind of political meaning - talking about the governor, and “watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you?” [/QUOTE] The governor is George Wallace. He was pretty famously pro-segregation. I have always taken it to be some kind of twisted point about representative democracy. Maybe I don’t get it. As for “Watergate does not bother me,” it’s pretty straight-forward. It’s basically making an analogy between the corruption in the Watergate scandal (a Yankee thing) and institutionalized racism in the South. It’s all politics, right? He’s saying “Do you feel guilty about what happened at Watergate? No? Then how can you condemn all southern men for segregation?” ---
**Author:** ![da\_pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@da\_pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/da_pope)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/3 "2007-04-03T02:49:59Z")
Neil Youngs ‘Alabama’, not his ‘Southern Man’. Wikipedia says it’s a response to both. Wallace was the governor when Neil wrote those songs, Nixon was president. Odd how Lynyrd Skynyrd would defend Alabamas racist and backwards practices (at the time), then stump for gun control in ‘Mr Saturday Night Special’. Then again, didn’t they also do ‘Gimme Back my Bullets’? Maybe they are just songs. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/4 "2007-04-03T03:00:31Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] As for “Watergate does not bother me,” it’s pretty straight-forward. It’s basically making an analogy between the corruption in the Watergate scandal (a Yankee thing) and institutionalized racism in the South. It’s all politics, right? He’s saying “Do you feel guilty about what happened at Watergate? No? Then how can you condemn all southern men for segregation?” [/QUOTE] But isn’t Skynyrd making the same general fallacy when they assert, “A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow?” How can they presume to speak for all Southern men in this regard? Who is to say that there weren’t and aren’t Southern men who really do need Neil Young around anyhow? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/5 "2007-04-03T03:07:01Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] But isn’t Skynyrd making the same general fallacy when they assert, “A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow?” How can they presume to speak for all Southern men in this regard? Who is to say that there weren’t and aren’t Southern men who really do need Neil Young around anyhow? [/QUOTE] Well yes, but these are people whose response to being criticised for racism is to point out that their sky is always blue … I don’t think we can expect a cogent defense from them. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/6 "2007-04-03T03:13:21Z")
[QUOTE=da\_pope] Odd how Lynyrd Skynyrd would defend Alabamas racist and backwards practices (at the time)… [/QUOTE] They weren’t defending them: > [@](#): > > Then there was Sweet Home Alabama, which contained Skynyrd’s most obvious hook and most ambiguous lyric. When Skynyrd answered Neil Young’s anti-Dixie screed Southern Man by singing, “Southern man don’t need him around, anyhow,” the band pretty much drove Young’s records off the radio in the South — though Young and Van Zant wound up being mutual admirers. **And many people heard the line “In Birmingham, they love the governor” as implied approval of Alabama Gov. George Wallace and his racist policies, completely missing the female singers booing him in the background.** [Cite.](http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-10-16-lynyrd-skynyrd_x.htm) What I think they _were_ saying was: don’t tar all Alabamians with the same brush. Not all Alabamians are to blame for Wallace’s racism, any more than all Americans were to blame for Watergate. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/7 "2007-04-03T03:19:41Z")
Years ago I heard an interview on the radio with one of the surviving members. He stated flat out that the female singers doing the “boo boo boo” were meant to represent the rest of the country “booing” their governor. And the misinterpertation of that line lead to “Sweet Home Alabama” NOT being chosen as the new state song. ---
**Author:** ![da\_pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@da\_pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/da_pope)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/8 "2007-04-03T03:28:44Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] They weren’t defending them: [Cite.](http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2002-10-16-lynyrd-skynyrd_x.htm) What I think they _were_ saying was: don’t tar all Alabamians with the same brush. Not all Alabamians are to blame for Wallace’s racism, any more than all Americans were to blame for Watergate. [/QUOTE] [Dana Carvey does Carson] I did not know that! [D/DCdC] Cool! Makes me feel better about enjoying Skynyrd. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Punkyova](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/9 "2007-04-03T03:29:42Z")
In Birmingham they most emphatically did not love the governor, George Wallace. He (and his machine - he ran the state even after he was out of office for decades) had a long running feud with Birmingham. For example, there was federal highway money (and state money, it goes without saying) that was supposed to be spent in Birmingham, but the cash was never released. One highway (I think it was 280, but it’s been a while and that could be very wrong) ended in midair. When Fob James was elected in the 80s, he finished all the highways around Birmingham that the Wallace machine had kept unfinished, and it made a huge difference in getting around (and to and from) the city. I lived in Auburn, so I’m not up on all the details of the feud, but it was the background to a lot of state politics. (Birmingham is the biggest city in the state, and has a lot of money, relatively speaking.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/10 "2007-04-03T03:32:52Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] But isn’t Skynyrd making the same general fallacy when they assert, “A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow?” [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure that the members of Skynrd passed on that whole “debate club” thing; making an analogy between a totally clandestine act and public policy put them on pretty shaky ground, too. Mean hook, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gentle\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gentle\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gentle_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/11 "2007-04-03T04:21:05Z")
[QUOTE=da\_pope] Neil Youngs ‘Alabama’, not his ‘Southern Man’. Wikipedia says it’s a response to both. [/QUOTE] 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 ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/12 "2007-04-03T04:45:06Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/13 "2007-04-04T05:08:25Z")
Warren Zevon wrote a caustic little diddy in response to Sweet Home Alabama called **Play it All Night Long** : - Grandpa pissed his pants again He don’t give a damn Brother Billy has both guns drawn He ain’t been right since Viet Nam Daddy’s doing Sister Sally Grandma’s dying of cancer now The cattle all have brucellosis We’ll get through somehow “Sweet Home Alabama” Play that dead band’s song Turn those speakers up full blast Play it all night long\* ---
**Author:** ![melbel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@melbel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melbel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/14 "2012-09-15T20:58:19Z")
All of the analysis about Wallace vs Nixon misses a critical historical fact - in the 1968 election (the one that made Nixon president), Wallace himself ran as a third party candidate and Alabama was one of the few states that voted their electoral college votes for Wallace. So that whole bit about Watergate is not a complex argument about northern versus southern guilt for bad politicians, but a much simpler claim that Alabama didn’t vote Nixon into office so can’t be held responsible for the crimes/scandals he committed. I think the “we all did what we could do” is also a reference to that - Alabama did all it could to prevent Nixon from getting into office. See [1968 United States presidential election - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968) for the map of the electoral college results. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/15 "2012-09-17T18:38:24Z")
Well, for the record, if Wikipedia’s quotes are accurate, **Spoke** had it right: Van Zant said “Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two”. And “Wallace and I have very little in common,” Van Zant himself said, “I don’t like what he says about colored people.” And I always agreed with the description in Wiki of the Watergate lines: that Van Zandt was saying "Hey, you can’t blame me for the racist a **hole in the Governor’s office, unless you take blame for the corrupt a** hole in the President’s office. " ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/16 "2012-09-18T00:14:51Z")
Slight hijack. Nothing warms this cold warriors heart like hearing the Red Army Choir singing “Sweet Home Alabama” with the Leningrad Cowboys ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/17 "2012-09-18T02:34:36Z")
I have been told that the bullets mentioned in “Gimme Back My Bullets” were record chart bullets. The writer was angry at his record company for not promoting the band to his satisfaction. Just hearsay, mind you, and I don’t feel like googling it. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/18 "2012-09-18T03:33:20Z")
If you really want to get a discussion (re)started, take a stand on [what key it’s in](http://ww.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1087493). ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/19 "2012-09-18T04:10:37Z")
> [@turner](#): > > Slight hijack. Nothing warms this cold warriors heart like hearing the Red Army Choir singing “Sweet Home Alabama” with the Leningrad Cowboys Yep one of the best, those zany Finns mixing it up with the ever so serious Russians… Just don’t mention the war:p ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510/20 "2012-09-18T05:09:32Z")
I used to think the “boos” in the background were saying “boo hoo hoo,” making fun of those criticizing the governor (as in they’re being crybabies or something like that). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-sweet-home-alabama-lyrics/398510.md?page=2)