Big wheels keep on turningCarry me home to see my kinSinging songs about the SouthlandI miss Alabamy once againAnd I think its a sin, yesWell I heard mister Young sing about herWell, I heard ole Neil put her downWell, I hope Neil Young will rememberA Southern man don't need him around anyhowSweet home AlabamaWhere the skies are so blueSweet Home AlabamaLord, I'm coming home to youIn Birmingham they love the governorNow we all did what we could doNow Watergate does not bother meDoes your conscience bother you?Tell the truth. Sweet home AlabamaWhere the skies are so blueSweet Home AlabamaLord, I'm coming home to youHere I come AlabamaNow Muscle Shoals has got the SwampersAnd they've been known to pick a song or twoLord they get me off so muchThey pick me up when I'm feeling blueNow how about you?Sweet home AlabamaWhere the skies are so blueSweet Home AlabamaLord, I'm coming home to youSweet home AlabamaOh sweet home babyWhere the skies are so blueAnd the governor's trueSweet Home AlabamaLordyLord, I'm coming home to youYea, yea Montgomery's got the answer.

Quick ThoughtRocker Neil Young, who often incorporated progressive social commentary into his songs, criticized white southerners' resistance to the Civil Rights Movement in songs like 'Southern Man' and 'Alabama.' Deep Thought'Sweet Home Alabama' was clearly intended as some kind of response—defiant, joking, or something in between—to Neil Young's 'Southern Man.' In fact, if you listen carefully, you can hear someone beginning to sing the chorus of 'Southern Man' faintly in the background of 'Sweet Home Alabama.' Gun bros youtube.

Important: The song above is NOT stored on the Chordie server.The original song is hosted at www.azchords.com.Chordie works as a search engine and provides on-the-fly formatting. Chordie does not index songs against artists'/composers' will. Jun 28, 2017  It doesn't matter where you come from: You know the song 'Sweet Home Alabama.' The lyrics are probably burned in your brain, and we doubt you can resist the urge to dance when that main guitar riff starts up.

(The faint snippet of 'Southern Man' can be heard just after Van Zant finishes the line, 'I heard Mr. Young sing about her'; it appears only on the left channel, making it much easier to hear if you're listening on headphones.) Apparently the stray 'Southern Man' lyric was recorded by the band members while they were goofing off between takes in the recording studio, then left in the final mix as a kind of 'easter egg' for particularly observant fans. Quick ThoughtThe lyrics of Neil Young's 'Southern Man' were particularly strident: Southern man, better keep your head / Don't forget what your Good Book said / Southern change gonna come at last / Now your crosses are burning fast Deep ThoughtMany listeners have (understandably) interpreted 'Sweet Home Alabama' as a simple, hostile response to Neil Young's critical portrayal of the South. However, the band members themselves insisted that they always admired Young and even hoped to collaborate with him on an album; the lyrical sparring between 'Southern Man' and 'Sweet Home Alabama', they said, was offered as a kind of tongue-in-cheek barb among friends.

Quick ThoughtBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. In 1963, the city was the site of massive civil rights activism, as thousands of demonstrators led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Sought to desegregate downtown businesses.

Deep ThoughtBirmingham was the scene of some of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement. Segregationist police chief Bull Connor unleashed attack dogs and high-pressure water cannons against peaceful marchers, including women and children; just weeks later, Ku Klux Klansmen bombed a black church, killing four little girls. Quick ThoughtGeorge Wallace served four terms as governor of Alabama, beginning in 1963. Deep ThoughtWallace first became a nationally famous—some would say infamous—figure in 1963, when he marked his first inauguration as Alabama's governor by declaring, 'I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!' By the time 'Sweet Home Alabama' was released in 1974, Wallace had moderated his segregationist views, but he was still known best for his earlier strident opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. Quick ThoughtIs this line meant to be heard as booing of Governor George Wallace, or is it just random harmonizing? Deep ThoughtArguments over whether or not 'Sweet Home Alabama' should be interpreted as a segregationist anthem hinge on these three little syllables.

Many listeners, over the years, have interpreted the line, 'in Birmingham they love the governor,' as a sign of Skynyrd's support for George Wallace and his anti-civil rights politics. But Ronnie Van Zant insisted that these lyrics are boos, written into the song to indicate disapproval of Wallace and everything he stood for. 'Wallace and I have very little in common,' Van Zant once told an interviewer. 'I don't like what he says about colored people.' So depending upon what 'boo boo boo' means to you, 'Sweet Home Alabama' could be either a pro-Wallace or anti-Wallace song. Quick ThoughtWatergate was the name of the political scandal that forced President Richard Nixon to resign from office in disgrace in 1974. Deep ThoughtWhat is Watergate doing in a song about Alabama?

One way to read the lyric would be as Skynyrd's attack against the liberals who were so outraged at Nixon's conduct during Watergate. But the line could also be read in a different way, if viewed across a regional rather than political dividing line. Perhaps the band was speaking for the entire South, saying to northerners, we're not judging you as ordinary citizens for the failures of your leaders in Watergate; don't judge all of us as individuals for the racial problems of southern society, either. Again, depending upon your interpretation of the line, you might see the song's politics as being either unapologetically reactionary or vaguely progressive. Quick ThoughtMuscle Shoals is a small town in northern Alabama famous as a center of musical talent.

Lynyrd Skynyrd recorded their first album there. Deep ThoughtDozens of famous rock, blues, country, and folk musicians have made pilgrimages to Muscle Shoals to lay down tracks at the city's famous recording studios. Besides Lynyrd Skynyrd, notable artists who recorded at Muscle Shoals include the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers, the Staples Sisters, Paul Simon, and Rod Stewart.

Quick Thought'The Swampers' was the nickname for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a group of highly regarded session musicians. Deep ThoughtThough the lyric says the Swampers 'could pick a song or two,' in fact the famous session musicians of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio laid down literally thousands of tracks over the years, backing artists ranging from Aretha Franklin to Bob Seger to Joe Cocker to the Oak Ridge Boys, all of whom wanted to share in the Swampers' trademark 'Muscle Shoals Sound.'