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".
The Cheap Seats
"The Cheap Seats" is a song written by Marcus Hummon and Randy Sharp, and recorded by American country music group Alabama. It was released in April 1994 as the third and final single and title track from their album "Cheap Seats". The song reached number 13 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in mid-1994. It also peaked at number 6 on the Canadian "RPM" Country Tracks.