Songfacts®:

• "Poison Whiskey" is about the effects of alcoholism, which is a bit ironic since Lynyrd Skynyrd played almost every concert under the influence of alcohol.
• Johnny Walker, as mentioned in the lyrics, is a Scotch whiskey that comes in four types: red label (basic), black label (12 year), gold label (18 year), and blue label (very top shelf).
• An acoustic version sung by Johnny Van Zant appears on their album Endangered Species. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Aaron - Twin Cities, MN, for all above
• This song is track 3, side 2, of Lynyrd Skynyrd's landmark first album. Their producer, Al Kooper, was initially nervous about the band name, and begged them to change it. When they wouldn't budge, he devised a clever ad campaign before the first album release, in a bid to drive the name of the band into the public's mind. He designed a skull head and a bones-styled typeface, and took out ads in music trade magazines and major-city alternative weekly newspapers, with an ad that simply said "Who is Lynyrd Skynyrd?" Each week, the size of the ad grew and held a few more details, until finally it became a huge two-page ad on the day of the album's release.
  
  Soon after the MCA ad campaign, Pete Townshend of The Who dropped by MCA studios looking for an opening act for the Quadrophenia tour. Who should they find but the hot, young and eager Lynyrd Skynyrd. Thanks to the lucky coincidence of their first album's ad campaign, it looked like they'd planned to tour with The Who the whole time!