Sweet Home Alabama Technique

Ronnie Van Zant's famous cry at the beginning of "Sweet Home Alabama" wasn't even supposed to be in the song; the singer was simply asking his producer to turn up the volume in his headphones while...

On the surface, this one's pretty obvious. If you're going to write a nostalgic song about "the Southland," what better title could you possibly hope to choose than "Sweet Home Alabama"? What bette...

The song's setting is Alabama, obviously—but it's a particular idealized version of the place. This is an Alabama where the sky's always blue, where your family's waiting there to greet you,...

We're tempted to say simply that "Sweet Home Alabama" is Lynyrd Skynyrd's calling card, but while that may be true, it's also too easy. What's more interesting is to ask why the song has come to ep...