The song was made in response to two songs that Neil Young had made about racism in the Southern United States, called "Southern Man" and "Alabama". The band felt that Young was being unfair to Alabama and the South, so Sweet Home Alabama includes the positive things about the state including the beautiful whether ("where the sky's always blue") and the music heritage (Now Muscle Shoals has got the Swampers / And they've been known to pick a song or two"). The song also protests then-Alabama Governor George Wallace, who was known for his racist views.