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".
Sweet Home Alabama (film)
In the present day, Melanie is a successful fashion designer. She has adopted the surname "Carmichael" to hide her poor Southern roots. Engaged to Andrew Hennings, Melanie goes alone to Alabama to tell her parents and to procure a divorce from her estranged husband Jake. Kate, Andrew's mother and the Mayor of New York, expresses doubt that Melanie is good enough for her son, whom she is grooming to run for President of the United States. Melanie asks Jake why he keeps returning the divorce papers unsigned. He orders her out of his house. Melanie announces her engagement.