Being a keen guitarist, I have collected quite a number of versions of "Freebird", by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the longest being around 9 minutes long. I'm pretty sure I remember hearing a much longer one in my teenage years, but don't know what I'm searching for.
Can anyone confirm if there is a longer one, how long, and what album or recording it is on.
The original, unedited and full version ends just after 10 minutes, however there is a "demo" version that plays up to eleven minutes and nine seconds, and there are various live albums that feature the song that smash through the thirteen minute barrier, such as One More From the Road and Lyve from Steel Town.
The longest? Free Bird on the live album Southern By the Grace Of God which goes mere seconds under 15 minutes.
14.58 is listed as the time for an alternate version on the expanded One More from the Road disc. The Southern By the Grace Of God version is 14.51.
On the original release album if you let it keep playing it will go for just under 22 minutes. But it HAS to be the original release. Pierre Robert of WMMR has played it many times before on the radio, though not recently.
On Skynyrd’s first live album, 1976’s One More from the Road, Van Zant can be heard asking the crowd, “What song is it you wanna hear?” The overwhelming response leads into the 14-minute version of the song that became iconic. Though Van Zant often dedicated “Free Bird” to Duane Allman, contrary to urban legend, it was not written for him.
Also on Skynard's Innyrds there is a 10:07 length version.
