"Free Bird",[4][5][6] also spelled "Freebird",[7][8][9] is a song by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, written by guitarist Allen Collins and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. The song was released on their 1973 debut studio album. Released as a single in November 1974, "Free Bird" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 on November 23 at No. 87[10]
and became the band's second Top 40 hit in early 1975, peaking at No. 19 on January 25.[11]
A live version of the song re-entered the charts in late 1976,[12]
eventually peaking at No. 38 in January 1977.[13]
"Free Bird" achieved No. 3 on Guitar World's list of greatest guitar solos of all time in 2010 and 2016,[14][15] while placing at No. 8 in their rankings by 2022.[16] It is Lynyrd Skynyrd's signature song, the finale during live performances, and their longest song, often going well over 14 minutes when played live.[17] "Free Bird" was once the most requested song on FM radio,[18] and remains a staple on classic rock stations.
Origins
According to guitarist Gary Rossington, for two years after Allen Collins wrote the initial chords, vocalist Ronnie Van Zant insisted that there were too many for him to create a melody in the belief that the melody needed to change alongside the chords. After Collins played the unused sequence at rehearsal one day, Van Zant asked him to repeat it, then wrote out the melody and lyrics in three or four minutes. The guitar solos that finish the song were added originally to give Van Zant a chance to rest, as the band was playing several sets per night at clubs at the time. Soon afterward, the band learned piano-playing roadie Billy Powell had written an introduction to the song; upon hearing it, they included it as the finishing touch and had him formally join as their keyboardist.
In subsequent interviews, Gary Rossington stated that the record company executives initially felt the song was too long and "wouldn't get any airplay", and that it "needed to be shortened to 3 or 3-1/2 minutes for radio". Also, the band was told, "Why would you ruin a pretty song like that with a wild "LSD-type" ending?" Rossington stated that the band refused to change the length of the song and that "we weren't changing our ways, hell no".
Allen Collins's girlfriend, Kathy, whom he later married, asked him, "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?" Collins noted the question and it eventually became the opening line of "Free Bird." Also, in an interview filmed during a fishing outing on a boat with Gary Rossington, an interviewer asked Ronnie Van Zant what the song meant. Van Zant replied that in essence, that the song is "what it means to be free, in that a bird can fly wherever he wants to go." He further stated that "everyone wants to be free...that's what this country's all about."[19]
The song is dedicated to the memory of Duane Allman by the band in their live shows.[20] During their 1975 performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test, Van Zant dedicated the song to both Allman and Berry Oakley, commenting, "they're both free birds".[21][22]
In 2008, the 1973 recording of "Free Bird" from the Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nerd 'Skin-'nerd) album on MCA Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[25]
Legacy
On Skynyrd's first live album, 1976's One More from the Road, Van Zant can be heard asking the crowd, "What song is it you want to hear?" The calls for "Free Bird" led into a fourteen-and-a-half-minute rendition of the song. It has become something of a humorous tradition for audience members at concerts to shout "Free Bird!" as a request to hear the song, regardless of the performer or style of music.[9] For example, during Nirvana's 1993 MTV Unplugged in New York show, a shout-out for "Free Bird!" eventually resulted in a lyrically slurred, if short, rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama". An attendee of a Bob Dylan concert on June 9, 2016 in Berkeley, California, shouted during the last encore for "Free Bird" to be played, and Dylan and his band unexpectedly obliged, performing an instrumental snippet of the song as the closing track of the show.[26][27]
The 2014 film Kingsman: The Secret Service, the song's solo plays during a scene in which Harry Hart (Colin Firth) engages in a massive, extremely violent, church brawl. Director Matthew Vaughn revealed he picked "Free Bird" specifically because its guitar solo was long enough to encompass the whole scene.[42]
^Kozak, Roman (August 30, 1980). "U.S. Rock Groups Will Play In China". Billboard Magazine: 10. Retrieved January 4, 2024 – via Google Books. "'Free Bird,' the only Skynyrd number they perform on stage now, has become FM radio's most popular request song, overtaking Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven,' they say.
