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As near as I can tell, no one has ever done a Saturday Night Classics episode on Free Bird, which is one of the greatest American rock anthems of all time. I hooked this date for the post, since the track was recorded on April 3, 1973. Since most radio stations don’t want to play songs of extraordinary length, their record label insisted on a radio-friendly version that fades out after a little more than 3 minutes. Which is kind of like having a Corvette with a 3000-rpm rev limiter. Forget that. You want the real thing. The album version was 9:08 long, and in concert, Lynard Skynard would often go longer than that.
Written by Allen Collins and Ronnie Van Zant, we all know the song, so rather than blather on about it, let’s play it.
By the way, has anyone here ever been to a Lynard Skynard concert?
Thank you to the late Randy Webster for starting this series, and thank you, @Hoyacon, for keeping it going.
Discussion (38)
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Playing it and flicking my Bic with the lights off.
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Definitely the greatest Redneck rock anthem.
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I saw it performed live once at the Maryland State Fair, post plane crash with new members. The backdrop was a giant Confederate flag. They were very good.
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I love this performance and also the one they played at the Knebworth Festival in 1976. Supposedly they really annoyed Mick Jagger when Van Zant pushed the guitarists onto the tongue extension of the stage to perform the ending solo . I guess the Stones felt that space was reserved for them.
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