Lynyrd Skynyrd — Sweet Home Alabama
Recorded Live: 7/2/1977 — Oakland Coliseum Stadium — Oakland, CA
More Lynyrd Skynyrd at Music Vault: www.musicvault.com
Subscribe to Music Vault on YouTube: goo.gl/DUzpUF
Personnel:
Ronnie Van Zant — vocals
Allen Collins — guitar
Gary Rossington — guitar
Steve Gaines — guitar
Artimus Pyle — drums
Leon Wilkeson — bass
Billy Powell — piano
Cassie Gaines — vocals
Jo Billingsley — vocals
Leslie Hawkins — vocals
Summary:
Just three and a half months before the fateful plane crash that killed Skynyrd members Steve Gaines, his sister, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (of the Honkettes), and lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zandt, Lynyrd Skynyrd played this 4th of July weekend program in Oakland.
While this is only a partial recording of the show, two of the three songs are probably the ones you would skip to anyway: «Sweet Home Alabama» and the legendary closing track that has inspired legions of concert-going yokels to make millions of ironic requests over the years, «Free Bird.» The first track is an excerpt of a standard Skynyrd live show cover, Jimmie Rodgers «T for Texas» The guys take six minutes to stretch their legs on this version of «Sweet Home Alabama.» The song had been released three years prior as a response song to the Neil Young numbers «Southern Man» and «Alabama,» which were both critical of southern politics. Ironically, by some reports, Van Zant was wearing a Neil Young t-shirt at the time of this performance.
The show is closed with «Free Bird,» which by many fans estimations is only rivaled by Led Zeppelins «Stairway to Heaven» as the most epic closing song in rock history. Allen Collins handles most of the five-minute solo, while Gary Rossington plays the «bird-chirp» guitar parts, which are not on the original recording, as well as the slide work on the opening riffs. Billy Powell also plays a masterful piano solo that is unique to the live show.
While Lynyrd Skynyrd would release the multi-platinum Street Survivors in October of 1977, the bands structure would be fundamentally devastated by the crash of their private Convair 240 that took the lives of three members, as well as the pilots and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, and terribly injured every other member, except for Honkette, JoJo Billingsley, who was at home with her children and had reportedly begged the band to quit using the plane after dreaming of such a crash.
From the ashes of this Skynyrd incarnation, Van Zants younger brother, Johnny, stepped in and made Lynyrd Skynyrd a popular band once more when they reformed in 1987. Lynyrd Skynyrd is planning to release an unearthed recording of pre-plane crash Skynyrd in 2009.
You promised the world and I fell for it
I put you first and you adored it
You set fires to my forest
And you let it burn
Sang off key in my chorus
Cause it wasn’t yours
I saw the signs and I ignored it
Rose colored glasses all distorted
You set fire to my purpose
And I let it burn
You got off on the hurtin’
When it wasn’t yours
We’d always go into it blindly
I needed to lose you to find me
This dancing was killing me softly
I needed to hate you to love me
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
I needed to lose you to love me
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
I needed to lose you to love me
I gave my all and they all know it
You tore me down and now it’s showing
In two months you replaced us
Like it was easy
Made me think I deserved it
In the thick of healing
We’d always go into it blindly
I needed to lose you to find me
This dancing was killing me softly
I needed to hate you to love me
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
I needed to lose you to love me
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
I needed to lose you to love me
You promised the world and I fell for it
I put you first and you adored it
You set fires to my forest
And you let it burn
Sang off key in my chorus-
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
I needed to hate you to love me
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
I needed to lose you to love me
To love love yeah
To love love yeah
To love yeah
And now the chapter is closed and done
And now it’s goodbye
It’s goodbye for us