Singer-songwriters have long been at the forefront of expressional art. They are able to voice their opinions on topics from love to war, and from heartbreak to freedom. They are able to speak out politically and make a change to social order. Songwriters take pride on the first amendment and their ability to speak freely. An artist who prided themselves on a particularly political career is Neil Young. He is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has been performing for fifty-five years. He is a notoriously liberal lyricist. His song Southern Man caused quite the stir due to its critique on the culture and twisted past of the southern states. Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote a song in response to Young's allegations, even quoting him by name "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember a southern man don't need him around anyhow."

Sweet Home Alabama is often interpreted as a southern anthem with negative connotations for Young's argument however, the song is written sarcastically to further exploit the negative stigmas and unjust in the south. Young and Van Zandt's use of sarcasm, hierocracy, and allusions in Southern Man and Sweet Home Alabama allow a better understanding of the stereotypes and stigmas plaguing the south.    

Young utilized sarcasm to help the listener better expose the southern heritages and ugly histories. 

"Southern man better keep your head, 

don't forget what your good book said" 

Young often criticized Christianity, in which he is referencing with this line. The "good book", the bible, is being used as a crutch for the enslavement and oppression of innocent people. The southern people have been labeled throughout history as overly religious and often unintelligent. "Keep your head" plays on the security and stability religious devotes receive from their interpretation of faith and relationship with God. He is bringing to light the fact that religious and spiritual activists often use their scripture as an excuse to act in a certain way or voice certain views.  "Southern change is gonna come at last, Now your crosses are burning fast."

Sarcasm is an underlying theme throughout Van Zandt's lyrics as well. 

"Big wheels keep on turning

carry me home to see my kin,

Singing songs about the southland 

I miss Alabamy once again

And I think it's a sin."

He paints the picture of the typical cookie-cutter southern man, riding in his truck down the interstate. Much of the south was uneducated and limited in work to jobs like trucking and farming. Many had a disdain for the trucking industry making Van Zandt's lighthearted line "big wheels keep on turning" condescending in a sarcastic manner. "Kin" is poking fun at the rhetoric used by southern people and the traditional family values implemented. His lyrics give an insight into typical southern family cultures. "Singing songs about the south land" is Van Zandt showing the obsession the south has with its history and heritage. Many southerners could not get over the fact that they had lost the Civil War, let alone integrate their cities and neighborhoods. Southerners naturally were left with a sour taste in their mouth. They had lost a war and despite it being inhumane and ill valued, they had had their social order completely flipped by governmental force. This being even more personal of an issue for the government hating, heritage loving, conservative south. The Civil War was a call for unity in the southern states making southern pride stronger than ever. Those who still interpret this unity and pride as a hate for the north or African Americans have created a stereotype seen by the general public. Much like Young's claims of southerners using their "good book" as a crutch, southern pride is often used as a crutch for racism and hatred. Statements like "the south will rise again" and "freedom for the south" can be seen on billboards and bumper stickers throughout the southern states and show these hard feelings. "Singing songs about the southland" shows this obsession being implemented. Southerners wanted the south back like it used to be and the trucker is singing a tune about the old south and what he believes to be "the good old days". Van Zandt knows that the old south is far from heaven, making his endearing line a sarcastic play on this old country boy's favorite tune. 

Young shows the inequality in the south by exploiting its hypocrisies. He stakes the claim that Christians are using their religion to hide behind. Christians choose to dissect specific parts of scripture from the bible that supports their cause, often out of context. They use the bible and its teachings only when it is convenient and relevant to their personal agenda. The southern Christians claim to be good natured but use their religion as an excuse for their wrongdoing. In the second stanza, Young speaks of the "tall white mansions and little shacks" that he saw throughout the south. Allowing hundreds of slaves be limited to shacks and barns while living in ornate plantation mansions is hypocritical and not Christ-like. His artful imagery of southern architecture paints a picture of inequality, prejudice and discrimination within the culture living in these mansions and shacks. 

Neil Young alludes to many historical events to help paint his portrait of southern stereotypes and stigmas. "Now your crosses are burning fast" alludes to the fact that the days of the old south are coming to a close and sooner or later they will have to adapt to the new age of civil equality in the modern world. While the rest of United States and Western cultures moved forward rapidly, the south stayed in their own bubble, where the skies were so blue. There was an underlying theme among southerners that the south should stay how it always was. The cross burning fast shows the listener that the southern man is short on time. The right wing extremist group the Ku Klux Klan infamously burned crosses on the properties of those they were after. The KKK fought for ideologies like white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and homophobia. Young uses irony when stating that the southern man's crosses are "burning fast" because the old ways of the south is slipping away from the southern man, despite the fact that he lit the cross. Young alluded to slavery in the early United States when stating "I saw cotton and I saw 'bac". Cotton and Tobacco were the primary cash crops of the south and fueled the entire economy. Slaves where the only way that the south was able to run efficiently at the time. The emancipation proclamation was detrimental to many farms and plantations. The crops still being heavily harvested in the south is a constant reminder of the times of suffering and oppression for African Americans in America

Much like Young, Van Zandt used historical events to help better exploit stigmas and stereotypes. The first and most direct allusion is the response to Young's song. Stating that a "southern man don't need him around anyhow" is a reference to the South's feeling of independence and their lack of concern for the rest of the United State's opinion. Despite the large majority of the United States being pro-integration the south was extremely stubborn and fought the Civil Rights movement to the bitter end. Van Zandt's line shows the separation that is present between the cultures and shows that the south would like to keep it this way. Much like the south was accepting of the separation from the north, it was accepting of segregation in its cities and towns. Governor George Wallace made history books with his ideas of segregation: "I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever." Van Zandt alludes to the southern support of segregation by political force "In Birmingham they love the Governor". Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in the nation, Martin Luther King Jr. called it the single most segregated city in his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail. Van Zandt shows the problems with social cultures in the south by exploiting their support of a racist politician. Van Zandt continues on to speak of another scandalous conservative politician, Richard Nixon. "Now Watergate does not bother me, does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth." Van Zandt eloquently dances around the complex political spectrum involved in culture and perfectly lays his claim. While there may be controversy and scandal in national politics it is not something that is going to get him worked up personally. Racism is an individual issue that is rooted deeply in a person's morals and ethics. Politicians like Nixon will not have a profound effect on the South's future but the burden of wrongdoing could.

Music has always been a method of spreading messages, whether it be political, emotional, spiritual, or religious. It is no surprise then that the south is the central focus in these two songs, considering it has long been the source and subject when it comes to Civil Rights issues and debates. Southern Man and Sweet Home Alabama are not the only songs that have shed light on the prejudice and racism that so blatantly exists in the southern region of the United States. However, it is their lyrical style and their play on hypocrisy, sarcasm, and their use of allusions that make these songs so convincing in their message and set Young and Van Zandt apart from other lyricists of their day. These songs had a mission to get people talking about the issues in the south and clearly by this paper and many others they were successful.

