Free Bird: Theatrical Short (1 Viewer)

[Mike Frezon]

With the new DVD release of the musical Grease, I was prompted over in the software forum to tell the tale of my theater experience. I was graduating high school the summer Grease hit the theaters. I saw it several times.

Honestly, the thing I remember most was a theatrical short that was shown before the feature each time I saw it (at least a half dozen times!

)

The short was a presentation of the song Free Bird performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd in concert. The flick consisted mostly of concert footage but I also have a memory of a bird flying around at the beginning and end of the piece. And that is all I know/remember.

My question is: does anyone know if that short was taken from a longer concert feature? Or, does anyone know if that song/footage is available in any capacity? Thanks.

Does anyone else remember seeing this in theaters?

 

[Kirk Gunn]

This is the only Live version I've ever seen:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...61172433508243

 

[Mike Frezon]

Kirk:

That was a lot of fun to watch...but it is not the footage that I remember from '78 (although the time period is just about right).

I think I've heard the same (or similar) audio track played on the radio. For example, I think the theatrical release I'm thinking of included the "Play it pretty for Atlanta" line.

But it HAS been many years.

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

the "play it pretty for atlanta" line is from the "One More For the Road" live album. And as far as I know, that show wasn't filmed/taped, so maybe they took that recording and synched it up to filmed footage of the song.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Mike - that YouTube version is actually from "Free Bird: The Movie". If you're a Skynyrd fan, it's worth getting, since it's usually around 10.00. The most recent release includes a concert of the "re-formed" Skynyrd.

The "Play it pretty for Atlanta" line does appear on the normal release of "One More for the Road". There is also an unedited Free Bird on the re-masterd version that I like even better (apparently Allen Collins overdubbed a LOT on the original release). When Gary starts the slide solo, Ronnie chirps "Play it for Duane".

I like to hear the raw versions

 

[Mike Frezon]

I can't swear the "play it pretty for Atlanta" line was in the short that I saw as a youth. It might just be years of conditioning from when I'd hear the live version of the radio.

It's buggin me that there seems to be no record of this theatrical version. If noone at the HTF or IMDB knows what I'm talkin' about....did it really ever happen?!

I swear I saw it at least six to eight times....all before Grease. I remember at the time thinking...I gotta sit through this long thing again? It grew on me pretty quickly though. For some reason I also seem to think there might have been a Coca-Cola connection. Maybe it was just a really long commercial. It's kinda fuzzy.

This has been really bothering me, though, for a long time. No one else seems to remember this.