In Rare Interview, Ronnie Van Zant Sets The Record Straight Concerning Two Of Skynyrdโs Biggest Hits
on Apr 06, 2016
As the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ronnie Van Zant was the subject of great interest to the press. But Ronnie typically wasnโt interested in being interviewed, since people always seemed to ask him about his personal life, rather than Skynyrdโs music.
Disc jockey Jim Ladd, the host of the popular radio program called Innerview, was different. He was curious to learn more about Skynyrdโs songs, and Ronnie was more than happy to talk to him about them.
First, Jim asked Ronnie about the bandโs 1975 single, โSaturday Night Special,โ and wondered if Ronnieโs thoughts echoed those expressed in the song. Written by Ronnie and Ed King, the song addresses the issue of gun control, and associates the cheap handguns called โSaturday night specialsโ with impulsive violence.
As Ronnie told Jim, he had seen a great increase in random acts of violence back in his hometown because of the same cheap handguns he sings about in the song.โIf you watch, where I come fromโฆitโs homicides every night because of that,โ he said.
Jim then transitioned to ask Ronnie about โGimme Back My Bullets,โ which he said as a listener, was confusing to him as a song that followed โSaturday Night Special.โ But once Jim understood that the song wasnโt about real bullets, he was much less confused. However, as Ronnie shared, many of Skynyrdโs fans took the phrase โGimme Back My Bulletsโ a bit too literally:
โWe quit doing the song on set, because almost every audience for about a month would just throw a handful of bulletsโฆI said โGimme Back My Bulletsโ and they let me have it!โ
Wow! Too bad that Skynyrd had to stop performing โGimme Back My Bulletsโ at the time. Over the years more people have come to understand the song and its true meaning, which weโre sure would have pleased Ronnie.
Tune in below to check out the rest of Ronnieโs interview!
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