The Song That Never Ends (in a Good Way)
Free Bird (the studio version) runs about nine minutes long. At Skynyrd concerts, the song might go on for an extra five minutes, which is why fans always yell out for the track to be played (as if it wasn’t already on the band’s set list). But how did Free Bird become such a run-on song?
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On the Ultimate Classic Rock Nights radio show, guitarist Gary Rossington recounted how the track came to be so long. “Allen Collins had the chords all written, and he had planned a lot and he was trying to get Ronnie Van Zant to write lyrics to it…” As Rossington recalled, Van Zant didn’t like how many chord changes there were, so they spent a few weeks “trying to achieve creative harmony.”