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".
I Wanna Come Over
"I Wanna Come Over" also proved crucial for introducing Alabama's fans to one aspect core to their style — the mellow love ballad, which would be repeated on their most successful songs, including "Feels So Right," "There's No Way" and "Forever's as Far as I'll Go." The song also paved the way for the bigger success of the follow-up single, "My Home's in Alabama" (which provided fans with the country rock-influenced side of the band's sound), the group earning an invitation to the "New Faces" show at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee, and an eventual contract with RCA Records.