As a die-hard fan of the Allman Brothers, who think they are probably the best guitar band ever, I have to say . . . .
… You’re absolutely right. The only excuse was that Duane was dead when it was recorded; he would never stoop to that sort of crap. Also, the repetition is Chuck Leavell on piano, not the guitar, so Dicky Betts is off the hook.
It’s been way overplayed, but I like it. Then, I never hear it much anymore. Last time I hear it was at The Orb concert (in Disney Hall). At the end of the night Alex was playing all sorts of 70s stuff (possibly remixed). We got Freebird, Lovin’ You (Is Easy 'Cuz You’re Beautiful), Without Love (Doobie Bros) etc. It was fun.
And even then, Jessica is a minute and a half shorter than Freebird (on the album), and the repetitive part of Chuck’s solo can’t go half as long as that guitar coda.
I appreciate the talent it takes to design a new car. I don’t want to listen to someone do it, though.
I was too young for “Free Bird” during its first population, but I really like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s live album: “What do ya wanna hear?” “Free Bird!” “I can’t hear you!” “Free Bird!!” 
Agree that it is no better and no worse than other of the mid-70s country-rock long-play tunes, where apparently the thinking was “Playiing the same thing over and over = rockin’ out.” See, for example, ABB’s “Jessica” and Eagles’s “Hotel California.”
And, not to sully their exhalted name by comparing them to these guys, but even Led Zepplin was doing the same sort of thing at the time, including (ugh) “Stairway to Heaven.”
“He’s on the dance floor yellin’ ‘Freebird!’
Singin’ off-pitch but he knows every word …”
– Neal McCoy, Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On
Actually, around here it isn’t “Freebird”. It’s “Sweet Home Alabama”. Oh, those of us in cover bands would pray before each gig that we would be able to get through the night without having to play that piece of crap. But noooooo, somebody always comes up and asks for it, every single night. You want repetitious? Here, you be the bass player for this one song. Arg!
Meh, it’s okay. It’s better than, “We Built This City”, or “The Pina Colada Song”.
But it’s still cheesy as hell. “If I leave here tomoooorrooooowwww…would you still remember me…”
“Freebird” is ok with me (I love '70s rock), but ya, it does drag on. For the same idea with much better execution, I point to John Mellencamp’s “I Need a Lover”, from 1979. The first half of the song is one long (three minute) instrumental intro, as long as many entire songs, but with musical development and virtuoso playing.
If you want to hear some much better Lynyrd Skynyrd, try this playlist:
**That Smell
I Know a Little
The Ballad of Curtis Leow
You Got That Right
Simple Man
Things Goin’ On
Was I Right or Wrong
Mississippi Kid
Gimme Back My Bullets
I Ain’t the One
Saturday Night Special
Sweet Home Alabama
What’s Your Name
Gimme Three Steps
Ain’t No Good Life
**
All better than Free Bird, IMO.
[QUOTE=Phase42]
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Actually, around here it isn’t “Freebird”. It’s “Sweet Home Alabama”.QUOTE]
Ditto.
Where I live is technically northwest Florida, but culturally Lower Alabama.
I am from the 70’s and love that stuff, but it does get repetitive, and Sweet Home Alabama is played ad infinitum. :rolleyes:
Free Bird does drag on, but I agree that it isn’t as bad as We Built This City and others.
IMO, Freebird combines trite lyrics, a boring melody, an inept vocal performance, and several amazingly unimaginative guitar performances. Add to that its ridiculous length and its having been played to death, and you have a formula for nausea.
In the early and mid eighties, I used to play a regular gig at a bar called The Horse You Came In On in Baltimore, just me and my acoustic guitar. When someone would request Freebird one too many times, if I had had enough beer, I would play the whole thing by myself, using a beer bottle to play the slide part. I considered it the cover musician’s revenge.
Which, coincidentally, is approximately where Lynyrd Skynyrd is from. 
There are legions of annoyingly long rock songs from the 70’s (I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned “Do You Feel Like We Do”, “Moby Dick” or “The Entire Grateful Dead catalog”) that go on and on forever, with little to no purpose besides showcasing some musical pyrotechnics. The band wrote Freebird as something to give Van Zant a rest while playing live. Apparently HE egged them on to make it longer and longer.
My real beef with Skynyrd is that they sang about a mythical “South” that didn’t ever really exist, especially in their lifetimes. They were from Jacksonville Florida, and while definitely located in the South, was already a major metropolitan area in the late 1960’s. The pining on songs like “Mr. Banker” or “The Ballad of Curtis Lowe” is just horseshit, of course IMHO.
Also they wrote “That Smell” which is a horrible and stupid song.
Not enough cowbell.
Loller, I love that song.
I don’t feel one way or another about Freebird, but if it comes on the radio I’ll change it after five minutes. Small doses.
I have to wonder about that myself. While I’m sure I could easily toss off a sloppy pastiche from the getgo, if you tell me what key the band is in, to really do it correctly would take a bit more effort and, even, practice on my part. I’m not a huge LS fan, but they they could take care of themselves in the guitar department. Not to say that they were guitar gods, but keep in mind that that not everyone can be Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, or Jimi Hendrix.
Sometimes, IMO, “horrible guitar solo” is another expression for “overplayed dinosaur classic rock song.”
Spectre, this is purely my opinion, of course, but I think the problem with the guitar work in that song is that it is boring and uncreative. It’s a bunch of notes in the right key that don’t have a damn thing to say.
Another thing I hate about it is that awful song, “Baby I Love Your Way” took the opening “If I leave here tomorrow” line and thus spawns too sucky, cliched tunes.
When the song starts, I’m never sure if I’m about to hear Freebird or Whiter Shade of Pale. And vice versa.
Ronnie Van Zant’s voice on the opening line makes me want to gouge my eardrums with a rusty fork. As on so many other Skynyrd songs, he’s in tune, but just barely, and that weak, shaky intonation drives me NUTS.
Playing the same three or four pedestrian licks over and over for ten minutes is not my idea of a good time, and hasn’t been since I was, oh, 15 or 16.