They always played this song live. It was one of there biggest hits. Every bar band played it. My band played it!! Guaranteed to fill the dance floor!!!
The story goes that Ronnie, (Van Zant lead singer), had the boys rehearse every chord, note and solo so that when they got into the studio, the tune was ready. Very little deviation supposedly. Love you guys.
Yeah plus they're one of the very very few bands that played their songs almost note for note live, as they were on an album. Ronnie said thats what the fans wanted, he was right. So I guess when they DID improvise in Live shows, it was on cover songs that they hadn't recorded, like T For Texas, or Crossroads.
@@loudnproudford yeah thats why I said ALMOST note for note. Especially longer songs like Free Bird I assume they just needed a little flexibility, but in most cases they stayed pretty true to the studio versions. I know Skynyrd had one rule: no music goes on the album that you can't re-create on the stage. Pretty much the exact opposite of what modern bands do. Which is why there will never be another Skynyrd.
One of the greatest band ever assembled, no weak points and Billy Powell was the most potent secret weapon! The icing on the cake! His piano playing elevated an already deadly ensemble into the stratosphere and that’s no hype job!
@@alansmith7626 for sure brother, I was fortunate enough to see them 4 times over the years. Once with ZZ Top, once with The Allman Bros, once with Paul Rodger’s and the reunion show. I never got to see the fully intact original band but 5/7 and 4/7 of the lineup was still pretty damn good!! Billy Powell was beyond amazing and Ricky Medlocke and Ed King did a pretty damn good job of playing Allen Collins’ parts note for note! Also played with pretty good feel considering who they had to try and duplicate!
@@donnadubyak6504 Ed left in 75 , so for about a year it was Rossington and Collin’s on guitar. then just a few short weeks before they recorded the 1976 live double album One More From the Road they added Steve Gaines. Either way Donna you saw one hell of a show I’m sure!!! You’re very lucky. Each time I saw Skynyrd minus RVZ and Allen Collins, I wondered to myself how great they were and how much greater it would have been to see the full lineup intact. I almost didn’t go to the reunion show the late 80s because of Ronnie and Steve being gone and Allen Paralyzed. In spite of missing such phenomenal band members they were still remarkably great! I could only imagine how good it was when you saw them!! The great old days!!!
"And you can hear me screaming a mile away as I was headed out towards the door." 😅🤣😂😆😁😜🤪 It's even better if you pay close attention to the lyrics. Many people miss out on that.
Thats so funny...for DECADES I'd always wondered what that line meant. Never figured it out till a few years ago when someone mentioned it, just like right here, on a reaction video. Anything for a good story, even admitting you peed yourself. Though I'm pretty sure Ronnie made that part up...
How can it be 51 years since the release this amazing debut album?! I was 14 when it came out and LS has been a part of my life like no other band ever since.
I think you would appreciate the Rossington/Collins band which featured 3rd guitarist and sometime lead vocalist: Barry Lee Harwood [a GREAT player !!🔥🔥🔥] and Derek Hess on drums; as well as Rossington's future wife: Dale Krantz on lead vocals. [Krantz, Hess and Harwood were the only non-former-Skynyrd members in the line-up (essentially: "replacing" Ronnie Van Zant [Krantz and Harwood, both], Artimus Pyle [Hess] and Ed King [Harwood, again])]. Rossington/Collins Band's "go-to," "ripper" hits would be: "Don't Misunderstand Me" [with Krantz and Harwood trading vocal lines!!] and "Prime Time" 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 [but there's plenty of other good stuff in those coffers!]
Saw them on July 4, 1976. The lineup for the concert was The Outlaws, Blue Oyster Cult. Lynyrd Skynyrd, then ZZ Top. Poor ZZ, nobody follows Skynyrd. The rest of the country was just finding out what we in the South already knew when the plane crash occured. These boys were GOOD.
They were/are really appreciated over here in the UK.....................imagine if they highlighted at Glastonbury!! Lol Saw them around 76 and again in 2003 when only Gary and Billy were left from the original band- but they still blew the floor as Hughie Thomasson and Ricky Medlocke duetted so well.
The old saying, "Write what you know" applies. Real place. Real event. Just happened that Ronnie was a songwriter. "That Smell" is another example. Gary's wreck produced a song. And so it went. Until October 19, 1977.
Big grin on my face after watching it. It's funny though, because this is one of their most famous songs. And what's cool is it's partly based on an experience that Ronnie had at some point.
Lynrd Skynyrd... Used 2 drummers and 3 guitar players(2 lead). All of the band members went to school together in Jacksonville, Florida. The name Lynyrd Skynyrd was inspired by the band’s gym teacher Leonard Skinner. He had demanded that they get their hair cut before coming back to school. Skinner was the reason why they never went back to school and formed a band instead.
I’ve always thought of Skynyrd as “gritty”! That’s the word for me. Even ballads, like Curtis Loew, have a little edge to them. That original lineup had grit!
This was my Dad's favorite track from them. I noticed that my dad seemed to like the faster more upbeat Skynyrd/southern rock songs.. Like this, and "What's Your Name" from Skynyrd. And when he mentioned that he really liked "Drinking My Baby Goodbye" by Charlie Daniels, it clicked in my head. Because that Charlie Daniels song has a similar upbeat southern rock vibe that the previously mentioned Skynyrd songs have.
The music is always so excellent, but your so right his voice is unbelievable!!! The clarity and tone of his voice makes it so much better! The song I hoped you heard the lyrics. He was dancing with another man's girl and the boyfriend showed up with a gun and was asking for a 3 step head start to get the hell out of there! It's serious shit, but they play it like just a regular night out!!! Lol!!!
FUN FACT… Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for the Stones in the mid 70’s. They were so great that they are basically considered the only opening act in rock history to make it hard for the Stones to follow
There actually was a place called The Jug, and this is probably a true story. Skynyrd was one of the best live bands I've ever heard (New Year's Day 1975) in Macon. If you haven't already reacted to it, "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" is a banger... also based on a true story. Love you guys! Keep up the good work.
Great live band--really brought the energy! Saw them twice in the same year, 1976. First time was them opening for the Doobie Brothers. What an eye opener, they blew the Doobies off the stage with a way too short set. Second time, they were the headline act and were fantastic.
I was just like alot of people that just knew about Sweet Home Alabama. I found myself listening to Free Bird so I told myself I was gonna listen to their catalogue and came away thinking this is one of the top rock bands ever.
Please check out Things Going On by Skynyrd, Billy Powell slams on the piano in this song. They are so versatile and so talented, all such wonderful musicians. Love your reactions!! (59 yo from the east coast ✌️) cheers!!
Rumor is that Ronnie never wrote down his lyrics and he always came up with them off the top of his head during studio recordings. He supposedly said why do I need to write down lyrics I have to remember later when we perform them anyways.
I think MOST of it happened to Ronnie, he might've taken a little poetic license here or there. I read once though that he said he was running so fast, if the guy DID shoot him he'd only be able to hit him in the ass or the elbows, cause he wasn't stopping for nuthin'!
Y'all tripping. This is a great song that tells a great story. One of my favorites and it was a huge hit. I was lucky enough to see the original band with Ronnie Van Zant in concert 2x.
@@tracyyork1428 I remember seeing them in 87 when they did that reunion tour. It was supposed to be a one time thing. Johnny must have said a dozen times over the concert he wasn’t trying to be Ronnie and you could tell he didn’t feel right about singing his songs. To the point he never sang free bird they would just play the music. Now it’s like Ronnie who? Freaking disgusting.
I'd swear you guys have a hat and a shirt for every single sports team on this plant. The thing I love about this song is the lyrics are perfect storytelling. Even just outside of musicality you could teach a course of good storytelling just with the lyrics.
Similar theme in "One Way Out" .....(live version is best) by the Allman Brothers. This time a guy's stuck on the second floor with a woman ...when her man comes home, walking through the front door :)
Worthy of note, bassist Leon Wilkerson was absent during the recording of this song (long story) so newly acquired guitar player Eddie King wrote and played the bass parts.
@@johndrx165 But Ed admitted he sucked on bass compared to Leon. Ronnie said so too. Which tells you how good Leon was because Ed did NOT suck. Leon was in a class of his own. Also FYI- know how Leon holds the bass differently in later years, almost like an upright bass? That's cause the plane crash screwed him up so bad he couldnt hold a bass "normally" anymore. Had to find a new position/technique he could physically manage. Damn. Never be another group like them...
Great reaction Skynyrd is one of the 🐐. They are tremendous musicians. Bob Burn on the kit and Ed King filling in for Leon. Just great musicians and chemistry. Skynyrd is my top 10 all time greats. On the Hunt and Gimme back my bullets are bangers too. Keep up the great work La/Che
True Story.....I saw the original band several times live back in the day. I was in Greenville SC visiting my grandparents and they were playing. I thought about going, went back and forth but decided since I'd just been to see them the week before in my city, I decided against it. Thought I'd just wait until they come back...Their plane crashed after leaving Greenville. The WORSE decision. It was their last concert w/Original members 🙁
Unbelievable Bass guitar eork on this, and no one talks about it, because everybody loves the story and his great voice!!! It's crazy how good they were!!!!!!
There was a great documentary on them on netflix....they practiced for weeks in an old shack before they did their recording sessions. They had everything locked down before walking into the studio.
True, they called it 'hell house' because it had no air conditioning during the sweltering hot Florida summers. Also, the stories that came out of those rehearsals are gold.
Back in the days of terrestrial radio, you’d often come across a song you never heard before and it would blow your mind in real time.. This was it for the 10 year old me- lost my kind to this tune.. so deceptively good ..(listen to that bass line )..they got so good and precise from hours upon hours of practice in the “hell house” - basically a shack:rehearsal place in the swamps of Jacksonville
GREAT story telling song!! :D :D :D :D MAN - would've LOVED to have seen where Skynyrd would've "gone", if there were still here....just feels SO UNFAIR. RIP to all who passed...YOU are MISSED! HUGS, FELLAS, and thanks for the reactions!! :)
The imagery and the story this song tells, along with the visual I always have of who I would assume is Ronnie screaming while running out the back door hoping he doesn’t catch a bullet in the back always makes me chuckle in fear myself. One of many great songs by an immortal, kick ass band.
Absolutely, this is the Skynyrd fellas just having FUN! ...Interesting thing about this (their debut) album (overall-NOT just this song [but, of course: THIS song, TOO!]): They are KNOWN for their 3-guitar attack. Something that almost NOBODY but them could, EVER, do CORRECTLY. [Molly Hatchet: the Band Ronnie Van Zant had selected as "the inheritors of the Skynyrd mantle," effectively (and never got to Produce, because if his death in the plane crash! 😭😭😡); Leatherwolf (on the meta;l side of things, later on); The second Fleetwood Mac line-ups, with: Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Jeremy Spencer, The Doobie Brothers (after they added Skunk Baxter when he left Steely Dan ...and, even with John McFee, later (after he had to fill-in for Tom Johnston, after he became ill.)) ...numerous people might, likely, quote others, but: while I am NOT suggesting taht ;any other band with 3 guitarists sucked"-NOT by a LONG-shot! No!-but: they didn't do it as effectively or invaluably as Skynyrd did it. ...and that is the entire point!!] SO; while Skynyrd is known for their "3-guitar assault"/"front four," on THIS album, their 3rd guitarist (just recent having left The Strawberry Alarm Clock to join Lynyrd Skynyrd, no less!) had to fill-in on BASS, because: the new bass player's arm was broken! Larry Junstrom (Skynyrd's initial bassist) had left the band (he would, later, show-up, in Ronnie's younger brother: Donnie's band: .38 Special!) and while Leon Wilkeson had become the new bassist, he had had an accident before the band's studio dates and was unable to play! So: Ed King, in fact, filled-in for him! [Maybe THAT's the reason he, later, attempted (purportedly 🙄🤷) to STAB Wilkeson to death on the tour bus, during the 1987 "Tribute" tour! 🤷🤷😝😛 🤦🤦🤷] This is, also, why, in many people's minds, the LIVE version of "Free Bird" (or, alternately: "Freebird") is considered "the pinnacle recording: because on the debut album, it is Allen Collins and Gary Rossington "battling" while on One More From The Road, they have all three players (Collins, Rossington and King) duelling, live! It is a barn-burner (as you know!)!!!!.
I think you would appreciate the Rossington/Collins band which featured 3rd guitarist and sometime lead vocalist: Barry Lee Harwood [a GREAT player !!🔥🔥🔥] and Derek Hess on drums; as well as Rossington's future wife: Dale Krantz on lead vocals. [Krantz, Hess and Harwood were the only non-former-Skynyrd members in the line-up (essentially: "replacing" Ronnie Van Zant [Krantz and Harwood, both], Artimus Pyle [Hess] and Ed King [Harwood, again])]. Rossington/Collins Band's "go-to," "ripper" hits would be: "Don't Misunderstand Me" [with Krantz and Harwood trading vocal lines!!] and "Prime Time" 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 [but there's plenty of other good stuff in those coffers!]
The song may not have a deep message like you say their other songs have. But the story is based on an actual incident where the singer, Ronnie Van Zant narrowly escaped with his life after a biker dude came into a bar one night and threatened to kill him because he was dancing with some girl. Two other band members got him the hell out of there and they went home and wrote this song just hours after it happened. So, maybe there IS a message to this song after all. If some guy gets up in your face with a gun, and you aren't armed, don't try to be a tough guy and challenge him, just let him have his say and get out of the situation anyway you can. Your life ain't worth losing over some crazy jealous maniac's flirting cheating girlfriend.
