Quotes from and about Lynyrd Skynyrd

The Beginnings:

"I just swung for the fence. That's my whole philosophy in life."--Ronnie Van Zant

"People are always asking me if I'm Lynyrd Skynyrd or which one's Skynyrd, but I always say, 'Who'd ever have a dumb name like that?'"--Ed King

"You have to really want to be a musician to be in the music game. For somebody like LeAnn Rimes, here she is fifteen years old, she's got this beautiful voice. For her, the music business is probably a wonderful place. She's never had to hump equipment to a gig, play all night, then load the equipment home for absolutely nothing. ... I doubt very much she's ever had to pay out of her own pocket to go play a gig. There's the music business and there's the business of music."--Artimus Pyle

"We all dropped out of school to go professional. So we knew that no matter how rough things got we had to stick with it or we wouldn't be good for anything but chopping cotton."--Ronnie Van Zant

"Free Bird":

"Everybody just loves ["Free Bird"] for some reason. I don't know the reason. But I guess it's because it's got such a high energy thing at the end, and it's very simple. ... We've never been able to write a song that would come up with as much energy and get the people off as much as that song has. So we must end up with it, because if we play it as the first song, we can't have that much energy the rest of the set."--Ronnie Van Zant

"The only controversy we ever heard about was that "Free Bird" was too long. We couldn't get it below ten minutes, so we said, the hell with it."--Ed King

The Confederate flag:

"As far as the Confederate flag is concerned, we've carried that with us for a long time before we did anything; it's just part of us. We're from the South, but we're not bigots."--Ronnie Van Zant

"Ronnie called me one time from overseas ... and told me the flag they were carrying with them had fallen on the floor and that they'd had to take it out and burn it. He said, 'Do you think it would be all right if we went on without that flag?' I said, 'Certainly.' I think he was just lonely, more so than asking for advice. I think he wanted to talk to someone on this side of the ocean that cared something about him."--Charlie Daniels

"Sweet Home Alabama":

"We're going to put out this one single from the album [Second Helping] and it's either gonna break us wide open or piss everybody off so bad that we won't get a second chance."--Ronnie Van Zant, referring to "Sweet Home Alabama"

"Ronnie was answering a song by a person that he respected [Neil Young] and saying 'I want to set you straight; southern man ain't like that anymore. We don't have bullwhips, we ain't bullwhippin' anybody. At least I'm not. And if somebody is, I'll help you fight against 'em.'"--Artimus Pyle

"I support Wallace about as much as your average American supported Hitler."--Leon Wilkeson

"They play like they mean it. I'm proud to have my name in a song like theirs."--Neil Young

"I knew Ronnie. Ronnie was not a racist. He did not hate people. He loved people. Period."--Artimus Pyle

"I don't think three guitars was very weird for me or Allen. I think everything's weird for Gary because Gary's just plain weird."--Ed King

Ronnie Van Zant:

"If prisons, freight trains, swamps, and gators don't get ya to write songs, man, y'ain't got no business writin' songs."--Ronnie Van Zant

"Ronnie wrote most of the lyrics either driving around Jacksonville, checking out different neighborhoods, or in the shower. You know how people sing in the shower? Well, Ronnie did that, but he made up songs--melody, verse, chorus, bridge, and all."--Gary Rossington

"Ronnie's biggest disappointment in life was that he couldn't please his father. I found that so bizarre because all his father ever did was sing his praises. Yet he felt that way. I could never figure out why, because Lacy adored Ronnie."--Ed King

"There are five kids in my family and I'm the only one who didn't get a diploma. All the kids got their diplomas hanging in my father's room and I got my gold records. I'd say he was more proud of the diplomas."--Ronnie Van Zant

"That's what this country's all about, bein' free. I think everyone wants to be a free bird."--Ronnie Van Zant

Steve Gaines:

"I hope I've created some kind of momentum in the right direction on the music side of it. I think we're really progressing and that's all I'm lookin for."--Steve Gaines

"I expect we'll all be in Steve's shadow one day. This kid is a writing and playing fool. Just wait and see. He's already scared everybody else into playing their best in years."--Ronnie Van Zant

"That Smell":

"I wrote 'That Smell' when Gary had his car accident. It was last year, and Allen and Billy also were in car accidents, all in the space of six months, so I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought I'd write a morbid song."--Ronnie Van Zant

"Actually, Leon plays bass like a guitar. He's a genius, any part he plays makes a statement. Just listen to the bass line on 'That Smell.'"--Ed King

"You know, man, we ain't got any cause for worry right at this moment."--Leon Wilkeson

October 20, 1977:

"In Tokyo, Ronnie told me he would not live to see the age of thirty and he would go out with his boots on. In other words, on the road."--Artimus Pyle

"The last five shows we did, we drank fruit juice and water, and doing real good and having it together."--Gary Rossington

"We had decided the night before that we would definitely get rid of the plane in Baton Rouge. So we started partying to celebrate the last flight on it."--Billy Powell

"We were only ten minutes from Baton Rouge and everybody was dancing because it had been a long flight. I heard the pilot say 'Oh my God' and the right engine went out."--Billy Powell

"We fell sixty miles short of our destination. We were on our final approach. Allen Collins and I were in the cockpit watching the sun set at nine thousand feet when the right engine sputtered out. Before the wreck there was no hysteria. The plane was completely quiet. No one was freaking out. And, I feel that, at that moment, a very reverent moment, everyone on that plane was in one form or another speaking to their concept, whatever it was, of God."--Artimus Pyle

"Ronnie walked to the back of the plane and I thought to myself, 'That's a good idea, get to the back of the plane 'cause the front of the plane's not a good place to be." Then, about a minute later, here comes Ronnie and he stood right beside me and he stopped, and we shook hands, and I looked into his eyes and he smiled a beautiful smile, the old Ronnie Van Zant nice-guy smile, and he rolled his eyes like, 'Oh shit, here we go.' He was walking back to the front of the plane, and I thought, 'Bad idea.' ... Less than two minutes later we hit and Ronnie was killed by a single blow to the head."--Artimus Pyle

"The pilot said he was trying for a field, but I didn't see one. The trees kept getting closer, they kept getting bigger. Then there was a sound like someone hitting the outside of the plane with hundreds of baseball bats."--Billy Powell

"We hit the ground, and the plane was ripped apart, totally. There was no piece of the plane that even looked like a plane. It was just torn metal. It took me five minutes to get out of the plane and make sure that my body hadn't been ripped completely in two."--Artimus Pyle

"The fuselage was torn sideways, and everybody was thrown forward. That's how Ronnie died. Died instantly of a massive head injury. There was not another scratch on him, except a small bruise the size of a quarter at his temple. I started walking around in a daze. I can't even begin to describe how terrifying it was. I saw the copilot, John Gray, he was hanging in a tree, decapitated. Leon was screaming. The sun was going down, and we were in two feet of swamp muck, and the rescue helicopters couldn't land."--Artimus Pyle

"My breastplate was cracked on impact. All of the cartilage was ripped from the impact. Because my friends were killed and hurt really, really bad, I never even considered that I was injured."--Artimus Pyle

"I broke just about every bone in my body. Our hearts were broke too."--Gary Rossington

"Ronnie gets talked about a lot, and he should be, because Ronnie is Lynyrd Skynyrd. But Cassie and Dean and Steve were wonderful people that believed in the music of Ronnie Van Zant and the band. I really do miss them."--Artimus Pyle

"When I went out to start the rehearsals for that reunion tour, I drove out to Ronnie's gravesite. Of course, he was buried next to Steve Gaines; that's when I saw the birth date on the tombstone. The same as mine. That was kind of weird. It was as if he had bought my bullet."--Ed King

Skynyrd's Legacy:

"After the plane crash, I honestly thought we'd never play again as Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then ten years after the crash, we did the tour, which was supposed to be a one-time-only tribute to the band and our music. Everywhere we went, the reception was tremendous. We saw people with their kids--and they both knew the songs. They were singin' along, cryin' to some of the songs, and just generally having a damn good time. That was really touching, so we decided to try to keep it going. It's a real honor to see that people still care about Skynyrd."--Gary Rossington

"Ronnie ... left the world with so many beautiful songs and lyrics and memories. And Allen and Steve left us with all those great riffs and music ... guitar riffs that people couldn't do if they tried for twenty years, 'cause of the attitude."--Gary Rossington

"I've listened to it. I sure have. What especially is a turn-on is if you see Free Bird: The Movie. That music is outstanding."--Leonard Skinner

These quotes come from Lynyrd Skynyrd: An Oral History, by Lee Ballinger, 1999.

A brief candle, both ends burning

An endless mile, a bus wheel turning.

A friend to share a lonesome time

A handshake and a sip of wine.

Say it loud and let it ring

That we're all part of everything

The future, present and the past

Fly on, proud bird, you're free at last.

--Epitaph on Ronnie Van Zant's gravestone, written by Charlie Daniels