So, what is the origin of people yelling Freebird at any and all concerts?
I know it is a Lynyrd Skynyrd (sp) song from the early 1970’s, and I know it was and is still a crowd favorite, but it seems that it has become a running joke to shout it at just about anyone with a guitar.
thanks. (first-time poster)
Welcome to the board. This is more for cafe society. However, it’s probably because “Free Bird” has a very long (and very terrible) guitar solo.
On their live album “One From the Road”, the singer asks the audience “what song is it you all want to hear?”. The audience responds by screaming “Freebird”. Somehow this became the running joke that any opportunity for a song request is an appropriate time to yell “Freebird”.
Firstly, it’s not from the early 70’s, but from the middle 70’s. Secondly, it doesn’t have a very long guitar solo, it has a long guitar jam, in which different guitarists swap leads. And, despite RealityChuck’s opinion, it is not terrible, but quite original and awe-inspiring, and most importantly, it rocks.
The audience all know to yell “Freebird” becuase it is the encore. They know it will be the last song and it was presumably the only one of their popular songs that they hadn’t played yet.
Haj
Chuck come on now…You should respect the 70’s. [sub] Damn I thought I was trying to get rid of should from my vocabulary[/sub].
You know you usually post thoughtful creative posts…I even subscribed to Fictionwise…If you recognise my stuff email me and let me know 
Anyway! back to freebird. It is certainly not terrible and it has made quite a few concert goers and the like jump up and down, sit and chill and basically have a good time for many years now. I love the song, and whenever my class starts losing it’s groove, I through it on and make them listen to it… Some of them hate it, some of them love it but every time I play it I say, " Now think about that. You are all dismissed, and if you come back to class having not done the reading again, be prepared to take a little test. Consider yourself warned…"
It’s worked so far, but then again my students don’t have many other teachers playing Lynyrd Skynyrd in class to prove a point.
Wait, would it be a test on Freebird?
(Weep-a weerna doo neee dur dur dur grrowwwww shooo neeer, deedle-eedle-eedle-eedle)
(No. Also acceptable: Lord help me, no.)
And so on.
How might the majority of music fans know which measure #233 is?
There’s a variation on this, popularized by animator Mike Judge. A minor character that was featured in Beavis and Butthead (and also another non-B&B Mike Judge animated short: “Inbred Jed and the Little Bottom Boys”) who would shout out “Play some Skynyrd, Man!”.
How might the majority of music fans know what (Weep-a weerna doo neee dur dur dur grrowwwww shooo neeer, deedle-eedle-eedle-eedle), like, is??
If you were a Skynyrd fan, you’d know exactly what it is.
Oh, well. I guess that means I’m not a Skynyrd fan. But then, what the hell am I doing with all those albums with their pictures all over them?
Through it on? And you’re a teacher?
Actually, with spelling skills like that, there is a good possibility you are my sons 9th grade English teacher. 
FREEBIRD!!!
hey notcynical, you ever check out the Village Idiot on W. 9th st.? It’s a good ol’ Hick bar I tend to frequent.
While I and a couple of friends were “setting up” to play in an air band contest in high school, somebody yelled out “Freebird!” Our “vocalist” stuck out his hand, slowly extended his middle finger and said, “No charge.”
We came in second.
Welcome to the SDMB, cheesypoof. Since this is about music, I’ll move this thread to our arts forum, Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
Now that it’s out of GQ, where factual answers are more appreciated, I’ll chime in with “It’s also fun to see if the band in question will do it.”
You’ve never heard ‘Freebird’ until you’ve heard it done by a bad ska band.
-lv
Yelling out “Freebird!” uses up about 2 seconds of your 15 minutes of fame alloted. Had I know this earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted so much of my time doing it. I only have about 8:20 of fame left!
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.
Freebird is probably the hardest of the 70s sons for any band to cover. Or the hardest of any song to cover. Ive only seen one band cover it with audience approval. To see a guitar player knock this one out (close up) makes you really appreciate the talent it takes to play Freebird.
I yelled it out once at an event that only had accordian players. The lead player was prepared for this and he actually started to play the first few notes. He didn`t ask for requests anymore.
The reason people yell it out at concerts is because it is so hard to play. People who yell it out know the band wont play it. Theyre trying to be sarcastic.
Everyone should check out this story from NPR.
http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1148406
Personally, I think Skynyrd’s the worst bunch of degenerate redneck junkies god ever put on this earth.
I remember when they first regrouped sometime back in the early 90’s. Everybody in the band talked about how close they all were and that they were family. That’s a long way away from where they are now.
That being said, I still like the beginning of the guitar solo.