Sweet Home Alabama
"Sweet Home Alabama" was written as an answer to two songs, "Southern Man" and "Alabama" by Neil Young, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. "We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two," said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. The following excerpt shows the Neil Young mention in the song:
In his 2012 autobiography "Waging Heavy Peace", Young commented on his role in the song's creation, writing "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. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue".
Slim Whitman
Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), professionally known by stage name Slim Whitman, was an American country music, western music and folk music artist singer-songwriter and instrumentalist known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth, high, three-octave-range falsetto in a style christened as "countrypolitan". He stated that he had sold in excess of 120 million records. In the 1950s Whitman toured with Elvis Presley as the opening act. In the 1990s a new generation was exposed to Whitman through his songs featured in the film "Mars Attacks!"; his iconic "Indian Love Call" would kill the invading Martians every time the record was played.