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".
Love in the First Degree (Alabama song)
"Love in the First Degree" is a song written by Jim Hurt, Ian Moore, and Tim DuBois, and recorded by American country music band Alabama. It was released in October 1981 as the third single from the band's album "Feels So Right". It became the group's fifth straight No. 1 single (and second multi-week No. 1) on the "Billboard magazine" Hot Country Singles chart.