Soon after I was so high on that orchestra [the Gone With The Wind Orchestra from Comes A Time in 1978] that I did a free concert in Miami and took the whole group down there and played. But we didn’t record it—I can’t believe it. It must be the only thing I’ve ever done that I didn’t record. I did “Sweet Home Alabama” at that show, and the folks loved it. (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 today. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue.) Neil Young, Waging Heavy Peace, 2012
Neil has long had an intimate relationship with death. He’s written about it in song, experienced the loss of close friends and colleagues, and had his own brush with death in March 2005 when a brain aneurysm forced emergency surgery. RustWorks Volume 9, Into the Black is not so much a period in Neil's career as it is a topic to which he continually returns: mortality. From Danny Whitten to Bruce Berry, Elvis to Kurt Cobain, death has touched Neil many times during his life. Opening with “Hey Hey My My” and containing songs like “Driveby,” “Touch the Night,” and “Powderfinger.” But it’s his touching tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd from the 1977 Bicenntennial Park show pairing “Alabama” with “Sweet Home Alabama” that reveals Neil's respect for that great band, despite the supposed feud between them.
Originally sparked by Ronnie Van Zant’s lyrics calling out Young for “Southern Man” and “Alabama,” the controversy still continues today.
“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.”
Careful reading of the lyrics, though, reveals that no animosity existed between Skynyrd and Young with Van Zant confirming in an interview: “We wrote Alabama as a joke. We didn't even think about it - the words just came out that way. We just laughed like hell, and said 'Ain't that funny'... We love Neil Young, we love his music...”
Additionally, if one were to examine Skynyrd’s discography from the mid-1970s, one would find songs that might be interpreted as “liberal.” “Saturday Night Special, “The Ballad of Curtis Loew,” and “The Needle and the Spoon” could certainly be construed as social commentary on the evils of gun proliferation, racial inequality, and drug abuse.
“Sweet Home Alabama” itself is a tongue in cheek view of Alabama with various references to the avowed racist Governor George Wallace and the March on Birmingham. A closer analysis of the lyrics in question reveals the irony that Skynyrd was, in fact, skewering the south’s prejudices while invoking Young’s name to drive home the point: when Van Zant sings “Hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don't need him around anyhow” the meaning is backwards. Ronnie later clarified, “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two.” (For further reading on the Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd “feud” go to Thrasher's Wheat. Don’t get lost going down that rabbit hole)
On October 20, 1977, the plane Lynyrd Skynyrd had chartered from Greenville, South Carolina, to their next gig in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, crashed near its destination, killing six including lead vocalist and founding member Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, Captain Walter McCreary, and First Officer William John Gray. Three days prior, the band had released its fifth studio album, Street Survivors, with a cover that depicted the band members surrounded by flames. And Ronnie Van Zant wearing a Tonight’s the Night t-shirt. It seems that whatever grudges Lynyrd Skynyrd had for Neil's music may have been resolved - if there ever was any feud to begin with.
Watch Neil perform “Alabama” with Promise of the Real at Farm Aid 30.
Just a couple weeks later, at the Bicentennial Park benefit show in Miami, Neil performed the coda from “Sweet Home Alabama” to close out the show. “Are You Ready for the Country” with its prophetic lyrics, “You gotta tell your story, boy, before it's time to go” was the encore. Danny, Kurt, and Ronnie; Neil’s proximity to these musicians and their passing has affected his songwriting and performing; the surprise (and only) performance of “Sweet Home Alabama” another example.
Listen to the 1977-11-12 performance of “Alabama/Sweet Home Alabama” here:
Oh, this is all so interesting! Learned something new today. Thanks Mark!