There was a time where the south enslaved African Americans and induced racism against them. Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd put up a debate about this in the 70’s with their songs Southern Man and Sweet Home Alabama. Neil put the face of being completely against and badgering the South. Lynyrd Skynyrd put the face of the defender. Both songs are great and this coupling was called a war of words against the South. Southern Man was written by Neil Young in 1970. This song focuses on the south and argues the southern man against racism and slavery. The chorus starts the song with a confrontation to the southern man. Neil young sings in confrontation about the hypocrisy in the fact that southerners preach their religious faith of Christianity but their actions speak nothing of the Christian beliefs (Bichan). Young argues the line don’t forget what your good book said with the line southern change gonna come at last, now your crosses are burning fast saying how southerners preach the actions of the bible – the good book -, such as love and forgiveness, but their actions say otherwise with hate, enslavement and racism. In the latter line, crosses are burning fast touches upon the creation of the Ku Klux Klan as a response to change in the south (“Southern Man” Genius). Young is saying that these southern men are saying and believing that they are doing the good of the bible but have created a group that kills people of minority groups and goes against Christianity. In the second stanza, Young talks about the contrast between the lives of the blacks and the white. He starts with the line I saw cotton and I saw black. Blacks were the ones who had to pick cotton which is a labor intensive job. Young then goes on to show the differences between the blacks and whites. He states that whites live in mansions which blacks are forced to live in shacks or rundown homes. The line southern man when will you pay them back is trying