How Lynyrd Skynyrd Created Their Greatest Southern Rock Epic: “Record Company Said It’s Too Long”

While creativity has no rules, being a professional creative does. Making it in the music industry means playing the game a little bit, and stunning songs can be produced with conventional songwriting. But the real magic happens when a songwriter dares to give up the formula.

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One finite convention of hit songs is their length. The radio has a format; in decades past, artists needed the radio on their side. This meant that one rule could not be broken: the three-minute sweet spot for hits. However, some bold artists crossed that line, including Lynyrd Skynyrd. Learn more about their most famous and extended hit below.

[RELATED: Lynyrd Skynyrd Called This 1974 Hit Their Version of The Allman Brothers’ “Ramblin’ Man”]

How Lynyrd Skynyrd Created the Greatest Southern Rock Epic Ever

“Free Bird” isn’t just a song; it’s an epic. The slow-building nature of this song paves the way for a massive payout once the famous guitar solo hits. Despite this song’s complexity, it actually came together rather quickly.

“One day we were at rehearsal, and Allen [Collins] started playing the chord progression, and Ronnie [Van Zant] said, ‘That’s pretty,’” Gary Rossington once said. “And he wrote the lyrics in three or four minutes—the whole damn thing!”

“Free Bird” was a quick endeavor with an enduring legacy. But, the first draft of the song isn’t what we know it as today. Road testing of this track helped develop the extended guitar solo we all know and love.

“We weren’t recording yet, but we’d play it in a club, and Ronnie would say, ‘Play it a little longer, so I can rest my voice,’” Rossington continued. “We were playing four or five hours a night, four or five sets. So it turned into two minutes, then three minutes, then four. And then one time, Ronnie said, ‘Just go till I tell you to quit!’ So it just kind of evolved.”

While the long guitar section worked well on the road, the band’s record label advised them against recording it in the same manner. In keeping with rock’s defiant history, Lynyrd Skynyrd ignored that advice.

“When we went to record it, the record company and a lot of people who advised us said, ‘Man, they won’t play that, it’s too long,’” he added. “Songs could only be like two or three minutes, like the old Beatles and Stones songs. But we said, ‘We don’t care!’”

Luckily, the band threw out the rulebook, resulting in this masterpiece. Revisit “Free Bird” and its iconic guitar solo above.

(Photo by Richard E. Aaron/WireImage)