Posted on 10/19/2007 10:21:26 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Thirty years ago today, a rented plane took off from Greenville, S.C., headed for Baton Rouge, La. Just before dark, just before it reached the Louisiana line, the plane ran out of fuel and sank toward the Mississippi landscape below.
It first grazed the tops of the pine trees.
"It was like the sound of a billion baseball bats beating the side of the plane." Lynyrd Skynyrd bass player Leon Wilkeson described in an interview a decade ago.
The plane crashed down through the trees to the ground, breaking apart as it went. In the twisted, broken pieces of that 1947 Convair lay what was left of Jacksonville's greatest musical legacy.
Though there were 26 people on the plane, only six died that evening, Oct. 20, 1977. But killed along with the two pilots were three band members and the road manager for Lynyrd Skynyrd.
(Excerpt) Read more at jacksonville.com ...
I was stationed in the South for two years (1974-75) and I saw Skynyrd several times. I remember a concert with them and Marshall Tucker where Van Zant came out on stage, drunk on his ass carrying a bottle, and began singing with them.
I turned 11 years old that day. I was already a fan for life.
38 Special was from Jacksonville, too, and they made some pretty good music also.
Happy Birthday, 2007.
Man, 30 years ago. Amazing.
This was a good read.
LBT
......
When a mama lose a young un, there ain’t no sadder loss.
When a mama lose a young un, there ain’t no sadder loss.
They’re cursin the name of Jesus, laid aneath a Southern Cross.
I stood on the ground in England, I heard a hard Southern rain.
I stood on the ground in England, I heard a hard Southern rain.
Got a taste of Bourbon whiskey, and Mr J. J. Cale’s cocaine.
Nobody lives forever; some things never die.
Nobody lives forever; some things never die.
Like we did in The Land of Cotton, they tell me that Freebird always flies.”
Ray Wylie Hubbard, “Airplane Fell Down in Dixie”
Thanks for your wishes!
You have to wonder what would have happened...had no crash occurred. This group would have been the biggest group of the 1980s...and disco might have been stalled out. Just one of them “what if” situations.
Actually disco peaked out in the late '70s and was dead by the '80s. So it looks like disco and Skynard flourished at the same time.
Before this there was Ricky Nelson (December 31, 1985), and before that Buddy Holly, Richie Vallens and the Big Bopper (Feb. 3, 1959, The Day The Music Died.)
And of course before either of those, Major Glenn Miller (Dec. 15, 1944)
Actually disco peaked out in the late '70s and was dead by the '80s. So it looks like disco and Skynard flourished together.
My favorite band,even today.
I was lucky to see Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Spectrum in Philly about a year or so before the plane crash. A friend of mine had an extra ticket and asked me to go with him. Unfortunately, although I had heard of the band and knew maybe one of their songs, I really wasn’t familiar with their music.
One thing I remember clearly was the lead singer Van Zant getting testy because people kept yelling “Free Bird” as soon as they took the stage. I know it’s a standing joke nowadays, but it’s based on true fact - - saw it with my own eyeballs. Ronnie finally snapped and said something like, “Yeah yeah - - you know we’ll be doing that at the end!”
Yup...I was 15 when this happened and was into them then
(and still now; have the boxed set). Remember hearing the
news on the TV about the crash.
“Sweet home Alabama
Play that dead band’s song
Turn the speakers up full blast
Play it all night long”—Warren Zevon
Freebird
If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now,
There's too many places I haven't seen
And if I stayed here with you, now
Things just wouldn't be the same
Well I'm as free as a bird now,
And a bird you can not change.
And a bird you can not change.
And a bird you can not change.
Lord knows I can't change
Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.
And though this feeling I can't change.
Please don't take it badly,
The Lord knows I'm to blame.
And, if I stayed here with you now
Things just wouldn't be the same.
For I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change.
And the bird you can not change.
And the bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Lord help me, I can't change.
I have cassettes of it , but nothing digital.
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