Origin of yelling "Freebird!"

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http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB111102511477881964,00.html

Good stuff.

― Mr Deeds (Mr Deeds), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Kevin Matthews?!? Jesus christ.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:25 (twenty years ago)

I'd love to meet someone who's a self described KevHead.

― Xii (Xii), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

I used to listen to his radio show with my dad when I was like 10 or 12. It was amusing at the time, but whenever I've caught it lately, his unctuousness makes me want to break something.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

The Johnny Van Sant story at the end makes it all worthwhile.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:37 (twenty years ago)

The first show I went to that wasn't Billy Joel, someone yelled Freebird, and I cracked up. I mean, it's stupid and trite, but I don't know why the musicians in that article are so uptight about it.

― WillSommer, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

cool article....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:41 (twenty years ago)

No way. I invented this. I'm 100% certain of it.

― space2k (space2k), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

I mean, it's stupid and trite, but I don't know why the musicians in that article are so uptight about it.

I have to admit, I'm getting really sick of it myself. Imagine if you have to hear it every goddamn night on your tour, though.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

It's very, very old, is the problem. The only way people will learn to stop doing it is if every band learns the song and plays it, in full, at every request.

― nabiscothingy, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

Dude, Doughty completely stole my "Play Freebird Again and Again Until Someone Gets Hurt" response, which I've been circulating for years. I originated that response!

I once had a friend who did an acoustic version of "Freebird," and when he got the "Oh, Lord, I can't change" line he just repeated it over and over again until they turned his mic off.

I've also seen Built to Spill do a great job with "Freebird," the same night they also covered George Harrison's "What is Life" and Cheap Trick's "Dream Police."

People should start yelling "Dream Police!"

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:54 (twenty years ago)

I heard that Bill Hicks show and he really does sound pissed. That idiot shoutout and Bill's extremely irritated response does a quick job of killing the vibe of the show.

― Vestigial Appendages, Esq. (King Kobra), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

Another reason why I could never live in America. I've never, *never* heard it said in the UK, and I don't think I've ever heard the song *ever*.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 20:59 (twenty years ago)

To paraphrase my pal M.E.A., what do people yell at Skynyrd shows?

"Freebird" is a fine song, as is virtually everything on the first two Skynyrd records. Worth hearing.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

I can see musicians getting annoyed if Freebird (and any other stupid tired shit) is getting yelled out over and over again. After a while it just feels like the person came to BE the show instead of to see it.

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:02 (twenty years ago)

I hate it because it becomes a chore to respond to it (or even to ignore it), especially if you're playing with a fucking jazz combo in a restaurant.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:06 (twenty years ago)

"To paraphrase my pal M.E.A., what do people yell at Skynyrd shows?"

Back in Black!

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:07 (twenty years ago)

"Silent Kit!"

― Hurting (Hurting), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, yelling "Freebird" was invented in the Eighties. Exclusive in
in America's newspaper for stockbrokers and CEO's. With a few slight word changes, it's excellent dry jokes.

― George Smith, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

i first remember hearing about this joke on bevis and butthead

― charleston charge (chaki), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

what do people yell at Skynyrd shows?"

Or "Artimus Pyle!"

― George Smith, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:12 (twenty years ago)

i don't understand george smith's second-to-last post

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

my friend started yelling "Whipping Post" instead of Freebird a few years ago, which is also namechecked in the article....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

"Sabbath!" and "Slayer!" are variants on this theme, as well.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:44 (twenty years ago)

Here in Montreal, the call "Slutsky" is frequently heard...

― Jay Watts III (jaywatts), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 21:59 (twenty years ago)

I bet that 80% of the time that Skynrd, Allman Bros, Sabbath, and Slayer are actually BETTER than the band that the crowd is actually seeing at the time...odds are anyway....I mean, all those bands shit all over Dash Rip Rock and Soul Coughing.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 22:02 (twenty years ago)

What a lot of people don't know is that it actually started as "Firebird!" being yelled at classical concerts.

http://www.iclassics.com/content/assets/selection/51/50849M.jpg

― RS, Tuesday, 19 April 2005 22:04 (twenty years ago)

(I think Kevin Matthews show has been cancelled. again. Can't imagine why!)

― ()ops (()()ps), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

Maybe because making your voice sound like an alien who speaks "jive" is NOT FUNNY!!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

"A few short announcements before we proceed.. the buffet car is now closed. The buffet car is now closed. Mr Daryl Hall, a call for you on the white courtesy phone. If passengers would like to avail themselves of the Free Bird service, please ask your cabin attendant for a brochure. If you would like Free Bird, ask your cabin attendant for a brochure. And Mr Daryl Hall, there is a call for you on the white courtesy phone. Thankyou."

― wombatX (wombatX), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

So does Doughty do a version of "It's Raining Men"?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 23:40 (twenty years ago)

And "Free Bird" actually wouldn't be a bad song for Cher.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Tuesday, 19 April 2005 23:42 (twenty years ago)

This article is one of the reasons that I think the best music writing is happening pretty much everywhere but in actual music magazines.

― Mr Deeds (Mr Deeds), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 00:26 (twenty years ago)

I've lived in DC for a year now, and some guy at a few shows I've been to yells "Waiting Room!" -- for example during the recent Slint show. I find that funny, but doubt it'd work outside of DC.

― PB, Wednesday, 20 April 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

At a Stephen Malkmus show in Charlottesville a couple of years back, a bunch of folks kept chanting for "Satellite of Love." Eventually he told them to shut the hell up.

(best story ever)

― brilliant young and angsty (thatguy), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 00:54 (twenty years ago)

this is one of those things that is so cliched and obnoxious that it comes all the way around to funny again.

― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 00:55 (twenty years ago)

x-post

I've actually heard 'Whipping Post' yelled quite frequently at live shows.

― cdwill, Wednesday, 20 April 2005 01:22 (twenty years ago)

Actually it's been a while since I've heard someone yell "Freebird" at a concert. I think the author of the article is exaggerating the frequency of it - or maybe he just tends to go to shows with more morons in the audience.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 01:25 (twenty years ago)

it's been a while since I've heard someone yell "Freebird" at a concert. I think the author of the article is exaggerating the frequency of it

go to a concert with ILMer Rockaction. yeesh. (although he did manage to get a rise out of death cab for cutie hahaha)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 01:35 (twenty years ago)

yelling "Freebird" and "Whipping Post" has been a joke, or not a joke, depending on where you are, in the south since, like, the '70s, man. Just like Skynyrd was a joke, or not a joke, depending on where you were, here since then. Yell out "It's Raining Men" in the wrong bar in my neck of the woods and the nice bikers won't offer to fix your broken water-pump next time you break down on I-40.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:11 (twenty years ago)

Last coupla shows I attended were with a record store crowd who loved nothing better than to yell out "'ello Cleveland!" before a band's appearance. First one to shout it was guaranteed a laugh.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

Those kids couldn't possibly be listening to Skynyrd!!

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 02:48 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure if I would want "It's Raining Men" to catch on. We cover it in my metal band.

― billstevejim, Wednesday, 20 April 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

Yell out "It's Raining Men" in the wrong bar in my neck of the woods and the nice bikers won't offer to fix your broken water-pump next time you break down on I-40.

"What the ...? YOU'RE THAT GUY WHO ALWAYS REQUESTS THE WEATHER GIRLS, AINCHA?" [punch punch punch] "HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS WITH THAT?"

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 03:39 (twenty years ago)

This article is one of the reasons that I think the best music writing is happening pretty much everywhere but in actual music magazines.

Yeah, Skynyrd topicality and intellectual rigor in the Wall Street Journal. Try again. And I've written for the WSJ and been cited by it a number of times.

Having "Freebird" yelled at your shows from the Seventies on was always a compliment, in my experience, if you were in a boogie band, or if you were competent and in anything that even remotedly resembled southern rock.

― George Smith, Wednesday, 20 April 2005 07:48 (twenty years ago)

I'd just like to mention that the singer mentioned in the first paragraph of that article is a fucking wanker. Thanks

― DJ Mencap0))), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 08:19 (twenty years ago)

the non-ironic Australian version of this is "PLAY SOME FUCKIN' CHISEL!"

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

"What the ...? YOU'RE THAT GUY WHO ALWAYS REQUESTS THE WEATHER GIRLS, AINCHA?" [punch punch punch] "HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS WITH THAT?"

hahaha!

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

I usually yell "Hothead!"

― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 12:31 (twenty years ago)

Ira Kaplan threw some drunk fuck out of a show in Cleveland for repeatedly yelling Freebird. However, Johhny Van Zant yelling it at Cher is totally classic.

A friend of mine has been yelling "Radar Love" for 25 years. But that's because she really wants to hear every band's take on Radar Love.

― diedre mousedropping (Dave225), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Haha, NMAS.

We have a standing agreement that if anyone yells "Freebird," we go into 30 seconds of the heaviest spazzcore thrash we can.

If you're going to yell things at shows, at least make them inventive and/or relevent. There's an actually pretty good Buddyhead article about that somewhere.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 14:00 (twenty years ago)

At a Stephen Malkmus show in Charlottesville a couple of years back, a bunch of folks kept chanting for "Satellite of Love." Eventually he told them to shut the hell up.

He played it here during his first solo tour without prompting.

― alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

In Finland we have a similar phenomenon, but here people yell "Play 'Paranoid'!" (to any band whatsoever) instead of "Freebird". And like with "Freebird", some bands actually play "Paranoid", or at least a bit of it. The best story I've heard about this is when a Finnish indie band was having a gig, and someone yelled "Play 'Paranoid'". The band then pulled up a sign which said "'PARANOID' 150 EUROS, 120 EUROS WITH STUDENT DISCOUNT". The audience actually gathered the amount of money needed and gave it to the band, which proceeded with playing the song.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 20 April 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

was this the first meme?

― pascal's swagger (J0rdan S.), Monday, 7 March 2011 08:48 (fifteen years ago)

"FAR AWAY!!!"

― Mark G, Monday, 7 March 2011 09:53 (fifteen years ago)

I have to say, having been to about 50 concerts, I can't recall ever hearing anyone shouting "Freebird!"

Maybe my hearing isn't that good...

― Lee626, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 13:24 (fifteen years ago)

too young? not in the USA?

I never have, either.

― Mark G, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 14:26 (fifteen years ago)

It happens exactly once every hundred shows.

― Odult Ariented Rock (Ówen P.), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 14:57 (fifteen years ago)

frequency of yells directly proportionate to proximity of GA/FL border iirc

― Brad C., Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:03 (fifteen years ago)

It happens exactly once every hundred shows.

It happens pretty much one night in three

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:32 (fifteen years ago)

incidence of FB yell directly proportionate to # of ppl in room who would actually pay money for a PBR btw

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

I've gotta believe frequency of "Freebird" yells vary widely depending on what band is performing, and in general varies by genre....

Also as some have mentioned, Skynyrd likely never had much appeal in the UK and elsewhere - just too American to translate. Kind of like Jimmy Buffett, whom from what I understand is barely known in the UK.

― Lee626, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:39 (fifteen years ago)

I dunno, there was a lot of love for them when I was in sixth form, and black armbands were out for the crash...

― Mark G, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:43 (fifteen years ago)

incidence of FB yell directly proportionate to # of ppl in room who would actually pay money for a PBR btw

i think you mean a coors light

― adult music person (Jordan), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:51 (fifteen years ago)

Someone shouted "PARKLIFE!" before a note had been played at a Bonnie 'Prince' Billy gig in Glasgow a few years ago, prompting me to piss myself laughing and was told to shut up.

― OH RICHEY, WHY. (PaulTMA), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:51 (fifteen years ago)

i think you mean a coors light

no man - hipster kids are the freebird dudes

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 15:54 (fifteen years ago)

I admit to yelling "Freebird!" once. In my defense, 1) I was at a Dead Can Dance show, and 2) they asked for requests.

― that's not funny. (unperson), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 16:07 (fifteen years ago)

no man - hipster kids are the freebird dudes

yo, i've been gigging in wisconsin for years and have encountered many irony-free(birds). in addition to annoying kids.

― adult music person (Jordan), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 16:12 (fifteen years ago)

Someone shouted "PARKLIFE!" before a note had been played at a Bonnie 'Prince' Billy gig in Glasgow a few years ago, prompting me to piss myself laughing and was told to shut up.

That is funny.

Surely Oldham pissed himself at the irony of this? Surely? Eh?

― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 21:33 (fifteen years ago)

I yelled for "ace of Spades" at a Low gig - Al.Sparhawk launched into the opening and that fucking shut me up.

― Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Tuesday, 8 March 2011 21:37 (fifteen years ago)

Considering the BPM, that's a pretty good joke, though.

― jaymc, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 21:44 (fifteen years ago)

i think the last time i heckled a band with a request was my friends' grindcore band and I yelled out "Age of Consent" - they played "this is another song about rape" instead.

― sarahel, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 09:19 (fifteen years ago)

which bands have actually honored requests for Free Bird?

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 9 March 2011 09:57 (fifteen years ago)

It happens pretty much one night in three

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, March 8, 2011 10:32 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

oh man, I've never been to see an aerosmith concert, but every time I learn something about the crowds who go there, I start to wonder if there's something wrong with me for liking Pump.

― kkvgz, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 10:27 (fifteen years ago)

wtf skynyrd had plenty of appeal in the uk - there's a blazin' live in the studio version of 'freebird' from the old grey whistle test that still gets shown on the beeb p frequently

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 9 March 2011 10:34 (fifteen years ago)

34 Lynyrd Skynyrd Gimme Back My Bullets Album Feb 1976
31 Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird (EP) Single Sep 1976
17 Lynyrd Skynyrd One More For The Road Album Nov 1976
13 Lynyrd Skynyrd Street Survivors Album Nov 1977
21 Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird (EP) (re-entry) Single Jun 1982
16 Lynyrd Skynyrd Greatest Hits Album Aug 2008 Notes
36 Lynyrd Skynyrd God And Guns Album Oct 2009

― Mark G, Thursday, 10 March 2011 13:56 (fifteen years ago)

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