Free Bird, one of the biggest hits of the American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, has received a music video after more than fifty years. The video was released last week rather unnoticed via the band’s YouTube channel.
After Sweet Home Alabama, the 1973 release Free Bird is one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s best-known songs. Many music lovers will recognize the iconic guitar playing in the song. On Spotify, Free Bird has already been played over 700 million times. This does not include the success the band had with the sale of physical music.
Free Bird focuses on the tension between freedom and love, with the main character leaving his girlfriend because freedom beckons. For more than fifty years, fans had to make do with their own imagination with the song, because a music video was never released. Now it has finally appeared.
In the video, you see a man reminiscing about when he was young, fell in love, and rode a motorcycle. He does this by flipping through an old photo album with images from when he was younger. Later in the video, he finds the keys to his old motorcycle, which he fixes up so he can ride it again.
Lynyrd Skynyrd broke through in the early seventies. In a plane crash in 1977, singer Ronnie Van Zant and a number of other band members died. That did not stop the band from continuing. They are currently touring the United States to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. The vocals are provided by Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny. It is unclear why the band released the music video for Free Bird right now.