This has nothing to do with libraries, but I really like the song, Sweet Home Alabama.
I'd never even heard of Lynyrd Skynyrd before 1977 and I wasn't ever a really big fan, but I like four or five of their songs and I've gotten to really like this one. People have different interpretations of the lyrics, whether they support racist politics or not, but I don't hear that. Sure, there's a contradictory image of the Governor, then George Wallace, as either someone they support or someone they "boo." There's also an odd mention of Watergate ("Now Watergate does not bother me. Does your conscience bother you?") which no one seems to be able to interpret, although to me it sounds like they don't care because they didn't vote for Nixon (or at all) and they're saying to the country, hey, you guys picked him, we didn't. But the real reason I love this song is that this is the first time I'm aware of a performer using a song to "trash talk" another performer. (I guess it really isn't trash-talk, but maybe something closer to "dissing." Even so, pretty cool.) It's amazing that a band would use its studio time to challenge someone (Neil Young, for those who don't know).
I guess if you had to be offended by this song, it might be for it's "leave us alone" attitude. People in the South have a history of wanting the North to keep out of their business.
But considering its history, there were at least a few things the South needed the North to go down and whoop its ass for.
