"Sweet Home Alabama" is a classic song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, from their second album, Second Helping. It was written in 1974 as an answer to the songs "Southern Man" and "Alabama " by Neil Young, and is intended as a defense of the South. Young's songs told of examples of widespread racism in the South and in Alabama in particular. "Sweet Home Alabama" sings the praises of Alabama's natural beauty. However, "Sweet Home Alabama" also makes a point of praising the unnamed "Governor" in more than one line. In 1974, when "Sweet Home Alabama" was written, the Governor of Alabama was George Wallace. At the time, Wallace was a famous segregationist. "Sweet Home Alabama" also seems to forgive Richard Nixon for the Watergate scandal.

Contrary to popular belief, Young was a fan of the song and performed it in concert a handful of times after the tragic plane crash that killed Lynard Skynyrd's songwriter, Ronnie Van Zant, and caused the breakup of Skynyrd in 1977.

"Sweet Home Alabama" is featured in many movies, including Sweet Home Alabama, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Con Air, 8 Mile, Forrest Gump, Joe Dirt, and Sahara. It has also served as the opening theme music to EA Sports series of NASCAR-related video games. It has become the unofficial state song of Alabama and a favorite among University of Alabama students and alumni.

In the Nicholas Cage movie Con Air, "Sweet Home Alabama" was featured during the hijacking of a prisoner transport airplane. One of the characters, Garland Greene, defined irony as "a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash".