Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Cafe Society
1

Watching the video on you tube, and was wondering about the reference to Neil Young and not needing him around.

Any clues as to the background?

2

Southern man.

3

Also, Neil Young’s song Alabama.

Sweet Home Alabama was a musical retort.

4

An additional bit of history, courtesy of Drive-By Truckers…

*Now Ronnie and Neil became good friends their feud was just in song
Skynyrd was a bunch of Neil Young fans and Neil he loved that song
So He wrote “Powderfinger” for Skynyrd to record
But Ronnie ended up singing “Sweet Home Alabama” to the lord

And Neil helped carry Ronnie in his casket to the ground
And to my way of thinking, us southern men need both of them around*

5

Kind of odd for a band that was formed in Jax, FL w/most of its members from there to defend Alabama. Georgia, yes, since some say Jax is the largest city in Southern GA, but Alabama? They must have felt it was an attack on the South in general.

6

Years ago I was channel surfing and came across a live show by Lynrd Skynrd. They launched into “Sweet Home Alabama” and I remember thinking how cool it would be if Neil Young showed up.

At that moment, Neil Young walked out on stage with his guitar and joined the band for the song. Whatever lyrical disagreements they may have had were obviously water under the bridge.

7

Whoa. As huge fans of both, would you know what show that was? Was Ronnie Van Zandt still alive?

8

The wiki article referenced above states that this never happened (at least while Ronnie was alive). If you have a cite, you should correct the article.

9

Yeah, I would have heard of this by now if it happened when Ronnie was alive. Now way I could have missed it. But since Skynyrd, or at least a band using that name, is still touring, I could see that it might have happened with one of the incarnations.

10

It was. And Mr. Young is not welcome in my home.

11

I was really hoping Neil Young would step out onto the stage and sing Sweet Home Alabama during Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Hall of Fame induction. Didn’t happen, but that would’ve been pretty cool. As it was, the ceremony was pretty lackluster.