The first recorded example occurred at a concert in Atlanta , Ga. , in 1976 . Now , you’re able to still hear it from the back of a smoky bar , at abaseballgame , in church , even at apresidential inaugural ball . Usually it ’s late in the eve . A lull has come over the audience as theguitarplayer tune up between songs , the consort work shift between hymns or the new United States President is about to take the stage [ source : Shapiro ] . Then , the placid is shatter by a voice at the back of the gang . " Freebird ! "
It ’s a tantrum that plays out across the country tenner after the southerly rock-and-roll group Lynyrd Skynyrd liberate their song " Freebird " in 1973 . ( The banding spelled the Sung dynasty claim as one word . )
What makes the great unwashed ( some call them obnoxious morons , redneck , hicks or defective ) asking " Freebird " at indie - rock’n’roll concerts , church , PresidentBarack Obama ’s spring chicken inauguration ball , baseball game , even classical performances – all out or keeping place people report having heard " Freebird " hollered from the interview to musicians who are n’t probable to have the song in their repertoire ?
It could be because of the song itself – a nine - minute piece in the studio apartment version , but often 14 - plus minute when Skynyrd ( as the dance band is experience to sports fan ) performs it live , as they do to this day . It starts out as an almost - ballad , a song about a man who ’s getting out of a relationship because he ’s " as destitute as a shuttlecock , " and progress to a waken battle between two lead guitars . It ’s an epic sound consistently mention one of rock ’s greatest Sung dynasty . On thisAol Radio tilt , it come in at No . 7 .
Or maybe yelling " Freebird " is consider a shout - out to the band itself , which has abide many losses over the years , include the end of Ronnie Van Zant , the lead singer on " Freebird , " and other band members in a 1977 plane clank .
So , how did this custom of scream " Freebird " at any and all public venues – horrify to some , a funny joke to others – get commence ? We ’ll take a trip back to the 1970s and ' 80 on the next page to get hold out .
A Murky Story
Let ’s go back to 1976 . Skynyrd was performing at the Fox Theater in Atlanta , when late into the concert confidential information singer Ronnie Van Zant ask the crowd , " What song is it you need to see ? " The solvent was a reverberative " Freebird . " The epic , nearly 15 - minute - recollective live interpretation of " Freebird , " including the dubiousness and answer , appeared on the Skynyrd album " One More From the Road . " Thisrecordingis often cited as the reason " Freebird " is shouted at concerts [ reference : Fry ] .
The other often - give explanation comes from an improbable place regard the band ’s Southern roots – Chicago , Ill. Kevin Matthews , a Chicago tuner personality , take to have originated the whole " Freebird " phenomenon when he call upon his fans , bang 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 . KevHeads did their skipper ’s bid , and a tradition was support . Matthews insists that he never intended for it to be shout at every concert , however . " It was never meant to be yelled at a cool concert – it was entail to be cry at someone really lame , " he aver in an audience with The Wall Street Journal . " If you ’re go to yell ' Freebird , ' hollo ' Freebird ' at a Jim Nabors concert . "
But Matthews ' estimation spread across time and music genre and has by now produce as many responses from set to the request " Play Freebird " as there are set ( we ’ll take a peep at some of these on the next pageboy ) .
Derek Phillips on his web log Glorious Noise calls scream " Freebird " the " joke that is n’t mirthful any more . " His informal poll of mass who yell it out at concerts , basketballgames and more seems to suggest that it is now see by screamer as a joke that the whole world – including the next generation – is in on . Phillips is ready for the joke to cease [ seed : Phillips ] .
But what do musicians who hear the same request night after dark think about it ? We ’ll search their various answer on the next page .
Freebird Responses
So , how have band dealt with this strange melodic phenomenon ? Some have tot up strange top of the song to their repertoires , while others rant and refuse to play it .
And some respond in the agency of all multitude of the early twenty-first one C , with aFacebookpage . Colin Meloy of the Decemberists set out the page Musicians Against the career Out of Freebird ( MACOF ) . On the group ’s Thomas Nelson Page he say , " This is a serious issue facing today ’s culture . How can instrumentalist around the world ever finger appreciated when the great unwashed throw out a request as dismaying as Freedbird [ sic ] at concerts ? " Of of course , in the best ( if unforesightful ) tradition of societal media , a counter page , Keep Yelling Freebird , also exists [ author : KYF ] .
Some band claptrap . Modest Mouse , for example , has a famous , if not family - friendly , one . Some band put their own spin on the melody and play it when demand . Here are instance of responses given by several band that you might not expect to have a version of " Freebird " available on immediate placard :
Neither the stories about the lineage of " Freebird " nor the idea that it has become a joke that wo n’t drop dead addresses the lingering popularity of cry " Freebird " at any and all musicians ( and lively upshot in worldwide ) well into the 21st century
But maybe that ’s OK . Maybe the strain ’s words , " I ’m as free as a bird now , " explains it all . We ’re all innocent to reply to the phenomenon as we choose – whether we find it annoying or inspiring .
link to band more data about Skynyrd , " Freebird " and the folks who quest it in push concert can be found on the next page .
