10. 9:00-9:07—This is the part where the song ends. The bastards.
9. 2:00-3:00—The song’s signature line technically
starts in the second minute, but in this minute, we get most of the bulk of it:
“..free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change.” And for a twenty
second or so stretch, one is led to believe that this song is about to really
kick into gear. But then it reverts back to the ballad that is the first half
of this song.
8. 3:00-4:00—The second verse isn’t as strong vocally as
the first, but in the second part of it, the guitars start to kick into gear.
Van Zant is still singing a ballad, but the guitarists behind him are gearing
up for a party. The first half of this minute may be the weakest 30 seconds of
the song, but by the second half, you are on the edge of your seat waiting for
the song to burst out of its seams.
7. 1:00-2:00—The vocals kick in, and Ronnie Van Zant’s
understatedly great lyrics begin. For me, a person who generally doesn’t care
that much about lyrics, the ideal song has words that sounds good when sung but
also aren’t completely cringeworthy when considered as a poem (I will always prioritize
the former over the latter, hence why I love Oasis). Van Zant intentionally
lacks any particular profundity but is still convincing in the role of
instigator of a breakup as somebody who truly believes he is doing the other
party a favor.
6. 0:00-1:00—The first minute of “Free Bird” opens as an
almost-funereal processional. The opening keyboards belong in the church; the subsequent
opening guitar belongs to the burial. The song is famously a tribute to the
late Allman Brothers guitarist Duane Allman, so it is appropriate that such a
tribute would have the bearings of both a funeral and an incredible, epic
guitar jam.
5. 5:00-6:00—The first 20 seconds of guitar soloing are
great and they are fun, but they are also somewhat typical. This isn’t an
insult—I’m somebody who loves every single guitar solo Steve Jones ever
recorded with the Sex Pistols. But around 5:15, the fact that Lynyrd Skynyrd
did not care whatsoever about individual accolades becomes abundantly clear. Oh
cool, Cream, you have three members? We have no fewer than three guitarists on
any given song, and maybe Allen Collins and Gary Rossington aren’t going to be
inner-circle famous guitarists but our sound is going to be legendary.
4. 8:00-9:00—“Free Bird” sounds improvised, which is
amazing given that, despite their owing a debt of gratitude to the Allman
Brothers, legendary improvisers, Lynyrd Skynyrd were a stridently professional
and rehearsed band. Everything they did was orchestrated. It’s probably for the
best—this song could have been terrible had they not had some sense of
direction. And instead, it rules.
3. 6:00-7:00—For all of the attention “Free Bird” gets
as a guitar jam, can we talk for a second about the drumming? It may not be
complex but Bob Burns bashes those things so that you can hear them over three
damn guitars, and to the extent that I headbang (inadvertently, as a muscular
twitch), it isn’t to the guitar—it’s to the drum beat. And that includes the
proto-Van Halen finger tapping of the second half of this minute.
2. 7:00-8:00—BOB DAMN BURNS Y’ALL. The drumming is
absolutely relentless and the guitars are chaotic and by the time this minute
ends, I’m halfway through a brick wall.
1. 4:00-5:00—The finger-tapping of the second chorus. “Lord
help me I can’t cha-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-aaa-ange!” The first five seconds of a
guitar solo that, even in its opening notes, clearly has a mind of its own. In
a way, these are the only sixty seconds of “Free Bird” that matter. If you don’t
like this minute, you aren’t going to like the song. And if you don’t like the
song, I appreciate you reading this, but I can’t imagine why you are.
