Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young and Rock Mythology

The Drive By Trucker's song Ronnie and Neil appeared on their double album Southern Rock Opera in 2001.  The album intertwines the rise of Betamax Guillotine, a fictitious rock band, with the real story of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and takes a wry look at the South.






Ronnie and Neil investigates the supposed rivalry between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd (Ronnie Van Zant was lead singer in the band) after Young wrote the songs Southern Man and Alabama.  Both songs are critical of the South, and in particular of Alabama, for the racism that Young saw as a toxic legacy of the days of slavery in the South.  The Lynyrd Skynyrd song Sweet Home Alabama has traditionally been seen as a riposte to Young's earlier songs about the South, stating the case for the South against Young's perceived Northern bias.  Many people have extrapolated from the lyrics of Sweet Home Alabama that Young and Skynyrd were engaged in some sort of dispute, but Ronnie and Neil provides us with a fresh perspective on this piece of rock mythology:

Now Ronnie and Neil became good friends their feud was just in song
Skynyrd was a bunch of Neil Young fans and Neil he loved that song
So He wrote Powderfinger for Skynyrd to record
But Ronnie ended up singing Sweet Home Alabama to the lord

And Neil helped carry Ronnie in his casket to the ground
And to my way of thinking, us southern men need both of them around.

The reality is that Alabama and Southern Man inspired Skynyrd to write Sweet Home Alabama, and Sweet Home Alabama can be viewed as tacitly supporting Young's anti-racism, although people have also said that Skynyrd were uncritically aping redneck  attitudes in the song:

"In Birmingham [Alabama, where a black church was bombed, killing 4 young girls) they love the governor [George Walace, who was a segregationist).

Young and Van Zant had a great deal of respect and admiration for each other, and Young wrote Powderfinger, amongst other songs, for Skynyrd to record, as he said that the band reminded him of Buffalo Springfield.  Unfortunately, this wasn't to be, as three band members, including Van Zant, died on October 20th, 1977 when the plane that they were travelling in crashed.  It is particularly poignant that after the fatal plan crash, Young performed  Alabama  in Florida.  He performed with the Gone With The Wind Orchestra and changed the chorus from Alabama to Sweet Home Alabama.

The only mythical part of Ronnie and Neil is the claim that Young was pallbearer at Van Zant's funeral, although it could be argued that the Drive By Truckers were just using artistic licence to emphasise the bond that existed between Young, Van Zant and the other members of Skynyrd.



Ronnie and Neil Ronnie and Neil
Rock stars today ain't half as real
Speaking their minds on how they feel
Let them guitars blast for Ronnie and Neil.