"Free Bird" is a song by Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Since its release on their 1973 debut album, Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, it has become the band's signature song, as well as a staple of rock radio. The shouting of a request to hear this song at almost any rock concert, regardless of the performer, has become a Rock and Roll cliche.

Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant co-wrote this song in part as a tribute to VanZant's recently deceased friend Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band, who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident and later died.

The song builds up slowly and ends (in its 10:08 uncut version) with a spectacular four-minute guitar "solo" by the three guitarists. When played live, the solo tends to become a much longer "jam" session.

"Free Bird" first began to recieve national airplay in 1973, eventually reaching #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in January 1975, shortly after Skynyrd had their first breakthrough hit with "Sweet Home Alabama" in August of 1974.

For years after Skynyrd's breakup in 1977, The Rossington-Collins Band , fronted by former Skynyrd members Gary Rossington and Allen Collins, would perform "Free Bird" as an instrumental out of respect for the late Van Zant. The vocal version returned to live concerts after Skynyrd reunited with new lead singer Johnny Van Zant in 1987.

The origins of the rock cliche of hearing someone shout a request for this song at almost concert can be traced back to Skynyrd's first live album, 1976's One More From The Road . Singer Ronnie Van Zant asks the crowd what song they would like to hear, and they all shout "Free Bird", at which time the band plays a 14-minute version. In the mid-1980's, Chicago DJ Kevin Matthews encouraged his listeners to shout requests for the song at an upcoming Florence Henderson concert, because he thought it would be funny to break up the monotony. The idea was so popular with his listeners that he began asking them which performers on the upcoming concert list deserved the request. The phenomena has become so common it is now considered cliche and has largely evolved into a parody of itself. Matthews claims that "It was never meant to be yelled at a cool concert -- it was meant to be yelled at someone really lame," he says. "If you're going to yell 'Free Bird,' yell 'Free Bird' at a Jim Nabors concert." [1]

External links

• Wall Street Journal: Rock's Oldest Joke: Yelling 'Free Bird!' In a Crowded Theater