Warren Zevon shut down the feud between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Play that dead band’s song”
Political strokes in music are one of the oldest tropes, but enduring for its unwavering necessity—if musicians didn’t speak up about what’s important in their art, imagining the state of society and culture today would be completely unfathomable. However, there’s a fine line between criticism and pride, which is incidentally an argument that once captivated three of the biggest names—Neil Young, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Warren Zevon.
Before the 1970 single release that would change the course of their relationship, Lynyrd Skynyrd frontman Ronnie Van Zant admired Young as much as any fellow musician would and was even occasionally spotted wearing Young T-shirts while performing on stage. However, that year, Young released his cutting song ‘Southern Man’, which sought to criticise the normalisation of racism in the Deep South and southern peoples’ direct violation of Christianity and “the good book”.
In the song, his words aim with reckless abandon, with lyrics like: “I saw cotton and I saw black / Tall white mansions and little shacks / Southern man, when will you pay them back? / I heard screaming and bullwhips cracking / How long? How long?”—The song criticises the region’s longstanding incorporation of racist tropes, attitudes, and groups while calling its inhabitants out for letting all of it slide. Consequently, however, it also upset many Southerners, including the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Firstly, the band felt it dealt with the issue much too broadly, resulting in a strong message falling flat. In their view, such heavy and complex matters weren’t to be addressed in a trivial manner, which is exactly how ‘Southern Man’ came across. That said, Young later defended its generalisation, regarding it as a strength that could apply to numerous eras and generations. As he put it: “This song could have been written on a civil rights march after stopping off to watch Gone With The Wind at a local theatre.”
Still, Lynyrd Skynyrd felt sour about the track, not just because of its simplification of a serious subject but because it was a direct hit on their hometown. As Zant explained: “We thought Neil [Young] was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two.”
He added: “We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong.”
Although this was undeniably exacerbated by the release of Young’s ‘Alabama’ two years later, the band were able to say their piece with 1974’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, with Zant even choosing to name-check his newfound rival in the line: “I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don’t need him around anyhow.” It also served as a direct opposition to Young’s entire sentiment, celebrating the southern state for feeling like ‘home’, forgetting that the reason all of this began in the first place was to highlight prejudices in the area.
However, Lynyrd Skynyrd weren’t all that concerned with those roots as much as having their final say and making sure the state of Alabama was reflected with balance. Young even commended their input, later reflecting on his own lyrics and describing them as “accusatory and condescending”. He also wasn’t that angry about the mention of his name, saying, “I’m proud to have my name in a song like theirs.”
Clearly, Young was willing to stand aside and allow the band their time to shine until six years later, a quietly brilliant introvert named Warren Zevon decided it was his time to weigh in. In 1980, he released ‘Play It All Night Long’, a song he wrote “really fast” while high on marijuana in a momentary haze while entertaining the idea of writing a satirical version of Skynyrd’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama’. Aside from attacking the original song’s empty message, Zevon tears into the over-hype, which is evident from the first line: “Grandpa pissed his pants again / He don’t give a damn / Brother Billy has both guns drawn / He ain’t been right since Vietnam.”
Leading into the chorus, Zevon then name-checks Skynyrd’s classic, singing: “‘Sweet home Alabama’ / Play that dead band’s song / Turn those speakers up full blast / Play it all night long.”
When looking at the three different iterations, the roll-out is clear: ‘Southern Man’ was Young’s attempt to draw attention to the problematic nature of the South; ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ was Skynyrd’s call to criticise Young’s overt generalisation, and Zevon’s ‘Play It All Night Long’ was his tongue-in-cheek way of basically saying, “Who cares? It’s a pointless feud, and both songs suck anyway.”
Zevon’s conviction also comes with its own layer of criticism about defending certain attitudes or areas just because of innate pride and the fact that they’re your “hometown.” By completing the circle with a track that directly pokes fun at anthems celebrating local pride or patriotism, he was able to point fingers at both Young and Skynyrd, criticising broad accusations while claiming that going on the defence doesn’t really achieve all that much either.
