But as guitarist and founding member Gary Rossington said, this legendary song started out as something altogether more humble.<\/p>\n
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In a 2012 interview with Classic Rock, Rossington talked about how Free Bird was created \u2013 written by fellow guitarist Allen Collins and singer Ronnie Van Zant, but shaped by the whole band, with a starring role for pianist Billy Powell.<\/p>\n
Rossington explained how they first began writing songs in their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida \u2013 with Van Zant as the dominant figure in the band.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike every kid in America, we wanted to be The Beatles<\/a>,\u201d Rossington said. \u201cWe wanted to be in a band, we started talking to each other, and learned all together \u2013 me and Ronnie and Allen.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew a couple of chords but Ronnie couldn\u2019t sing at all and we didn\u2019t think we could ever write a song ever in our lives. We thought that took talent!<\/p>\n \u201cWe just had a dream of making it in a band, but we didn\u2019t think we\u2019d make it real big.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we started rehearsing and playing around town at parties and stuff, and when we got into writing we started trying real hard.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and Al would battle for solos. We\u2019d learn a song and whoever played lead the best got it.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n \u201cSo after a while we\u2019d be fighting each other for it, and Ronnie saw that. He used to tell the other guys, \u2018Watch this \u2013 Gary, why don\u2019t you play the lead there?\u2019 And Al would be so pissed, he\u2019d come back the next day and play it better than me.<\/p>\n \u201cRonnie was slick. And then it turned into real fights! But it was great.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a while I had a girlfriend and every day I would go to her house after the band practiced for a couple of hours, and Allen didn\u2019t have a girlfriend \u2013 he\u2019d go home and play. And that meant that Al was learning quicker than me. So I ended up breaking up with this girl so I could play more!\u201d<\/p>\n Rossington cited a handful of blues players as key influences for himself and Allen Collins in their formative years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe loved blues,\u201d he said. \u201cPaul Butterfield and John Mayall, Muddy Waters and Son House and Howlin\u2019 Wolf. Everybody was blues-influenced, cos rock \u2019n\u2019 roll evolved from blues. Blues is where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n When Collins and Van Zant first wrote Free Bird, Rossington never sensed that it was something special.<\/p>\n He recalled: \u201cIt was a simple love song about leaving a girl and being a free bird \u2013 like, you gotta wander. Ronnie wrote the lyrics, so we had a song but it just ended. So we were playing it, we liked it and we taught it to the rest of the band.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it was just a guitar song. We didn\u2019t have Billy Powell playing piano on it yet. At that time Billy was our roadie, he set up the equipment and hung out with us. And he played classical \u2013 he didn\u2019t even like rock \u2018n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of came up with the three chords at the end so Allen could play lead, and when we were playing clubs \u2013 to stall for time, I swear to God \u2013 Allen would play 30 seconds of lead and I would play the chords a few passes, and that was it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t recording yet, but we\u2019d play it in a club and Ronnie would say, \u2018Play it a little longer, so I can rest my voice.\u2019 We were playing four or five hours a night, four or five sets. So it turned into two minutes, then three minutes, then four. And then on time Ronnie said, \u2018Just go till I tell you to quit!\u2019 So it just kind of evolved.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we went to record it, the record company and a lot of people who advised us said, \u2018Man, they won\u2019t play that, it\u2019s too long.\u2019 Cos songs could only be like two or three minutes, like the old Beatles and Stones songs. But we said, \u2018We don\u2019t care!<\/p>\n \u201cTruth is, we didn\u2019t think it would be a big song.\u201d<\/p>\n Free Bird was the final track on the band\u2019s debut album, (Pronounced ‘L\u0115h-‘n\u00e9rd \u2018Skin-\u2018n\u00e9rd).<\/p>\n Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird (Official Audio) – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n The album was recorded in early 1973 at Studio One in Doraville, Georgia, and produced by Al Kooper, an experienced session musician who had previously played on landmark songs including The Rolling Stones<\/a>\u2019 You Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want and Bob Dylan\u2019s Like A Rolling Stone.<\/p>\n Free Bird was issued as a single in November 1973 but only reached No.87 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n As Rossington told Classic Rock: \u201cAfter the first album, we just went back to playing clubs and making no money. Every penny we made went into equipment or gas or something for the band.<\/p>\n \u201cThen we did the second album [Second Helping] and we weren\u2019t doing that much.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time we played in Jacksonville to three or four thousand people we thought we\u2019d made it! We just wanted to play and be on the road. We thought that was the greatest thing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
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