![]() ![]() A recent performance in 2009 got the Portland, Maine, audience on its feet. The band Phish has performed a humorous, a cappella version (complete with guitar solo) on many occasions since 1987.In 2009, Jackson Browne did a 4-minute acoustic version while performing in North Carolina. ![]() "If you're going to yell 'Freebird,' yell 'Freebird' at a Jim Nabors concert." "It was never meant to be yelled at a cool concert - it was meant to be yelled at someone really lame," he says in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Matthews insists that he never intended for it to be yelled at every concert, however. KevHeads did their master's bidding, and a tradition was born. Kevin Matthews, a Chicago radio personality, claims to have originated the whole "Freebird" phenomenon when he called upon his fans, known as KevHeads, to yell the song title out at a Florence Henderson (she played mother Carol on "The Brady Bunch") concert in the late 1980s. The other often-given explanation comes from an unlikely place considering the band's Southern roots - Chicago, Ill. Skynyrd was performing at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, when deep into the concert lead singer Ronnie Van Zant asked the crowd, "What song is it you want to hear?" The answer was a resounding "Freebird." The epic, nearly 15-minute-long live version of "Freebird," including the question and answer, appeared on the Skynyrd album "One More From the Road." This recording is often cited as the reason "Freebird" is shouted at concerts. So, how did this tradition of hollering "Freebird" at any and all public venues - appalling to some, a funny joke to others - get started? We'll take a trip back to the 1970s and '80s on the next page to find out. Or maybe yelling "Freebird" is considered a shout-out to the band itself, which has suffered many losses over the years, including the deaths of Ronnie Van Zant, the lead singer on "Freebird," and other band members in a 1977 plane crash. On this Aol Radio list, it comes in at No. It's an epic sound consistently named one of rock's greatest songs. It starts out as an almost-ballad, a song about a man who's getting out of a relationship because he's "as free as a bird," and builds to a rousing battle between two lead guitars. It could be because of the song itself - a nine-minute piece in the studio version, but often 14-plus minutes when Skynyrd (as the band is known to fans) performs it live, as they do to this day. In France, it was released as a single on Jand reached number 30 on the charts.What makes people (some call them obnoxious morons, rednecks, hicks or worse) request "Freebird" at indie-rock concerts, churches, President Barack Obama's youth inauguration ball, baseball games, even classical performances - all inappropriate places people report having heard "Freebird" hollered from the audience to musicians who aren't likely to have the song in their repertoire? ![]() The song remained in the Top 40 for seven weeks. It was released as a single on and went straight into the Top 40, reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band then recorded the song in the studio in January 1973. "Free Bird" was first performed live on Octoat the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Ronnie Van Zant stated that the song was "a long fucking song to say fuck you". The song was written in response to criticism from fans who kept asking the band to play "Free Bird" even when they were playing other songs. The first part is written in C major and the second in G minor, before returning to C major for the end. The song is divided into three distinct parts, with a central instrumental jam section. It begins slowly with a lead guitar intro before moving into a faster tempo. "Free Bird" is a progressive rock song that lasts over nine minutes. It is considered one of the most famous songs of the band and was ranked #19 of the 500 greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. The song was written by Ronnie Van Zant and Allen Collins. The song "Free Bird" is a song of the American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
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