CHAD October 6th, 2008 04:24PM  
The song is written by two people,neither of which are from Alabama.Lyrics,as always,are by Ronnie.The Neil Young song Southern Man was considered by Ronnie to be an insult to the south.The earliest Skynyrd recordings were made near Muscle Schoals, Alabama. Ronnie was fond of the treatment of the band by the people there.He used Alabama as the backdrop for the "anti" Neil Young, and anti southern stereotype song Sweet Home Alabama.It is rumoured that as a final inside joke,Ronnie was buried in a Neil Young T shirt,but I have never seen anything to back that up.As for the main guitar verse,it was written by Ed King,who came from California,and even used a seashell for a pick.