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Get yer 'aircut!
July 01, 2012 4:34:54 AM UTC Post #1

Some of us take a while to catch up. Only just looked up the origin of the band's name today to find my dear old Mr Shelton (at a school in England in the early 70's) wasn't the first teacher of that era to drive kids from school with persistent nagging about hair length. I left too for that very reason - only difference is I failed to become a great musician!

Can't win 'em all I guess - at least we can play covers and enjoy the nostalgia!


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July 02, 2012 12:55:04 PM UTC Post #1

I guess you have yet to read this Bob Burns interview where he discusses the real origins of the name of Lynyrd Skynyrd:


E - Now why did you switch the name to Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have read that it was
about the high school coach.

BB - Well, that's kind of a half truth. How old are you?

E - I'm 44 now.

BB - You may or may not remember but there was a song that came out.

MB – Well, wait a minute. Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt but there was
one more name change before Lynyrd Skynyrd. They changed their name to One
Percent.

E - One percent, so that actually happened.

BB – We were the One Percent longer than we were Lynyrd Skynyrd.

E - Really?

BB - For back then, yeah we were the One Percent for like 5 or 6 years.

E - It was printed in Wikipedia

MB – Well that's all wrong.

E – But it was recorded there.

BB – The song was called Camp Granada, it goes "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda, You
Remember Leonard Skinner he had ptomaine poisoning after dinner." That's where
the name came from right there. I heard it and I thought it was the funniest
damn name I had ever heard in my entire life. I thought what if your name was
fricken Leonard Skinner. Then it became a household word, that fan would just
fall and there was no earthly reason why that fan would fall, well that was
Leonard. Or somebody was on the phone at four-O-clock in the morning but nobody
was saying anything, that was Leonard. A noise, all of a sudden this box would
move and you and I know there's no way this box could move but it did, that was
Leonard. So we were the One Percent and that same year they got a gym coach
named Leonard Skinner. We were thinking of names to name the band and I started
laughing my ass off and I said "Leonard Skinner." They went "Where?" And I said
"No, the name of the band, Leonard Skinner." And they went "For a name?" I
went "Yeah", and they busted out laughing. They laughed and Laughed and Ronnie
said "That's what we'll do and we'll tell them that we named it after the damn
coach."

E - So it actually came from that song. That's a heck of a story.

BB - Yes it did and if you don't believe me look the song up on the internet
"Camp Granada" the name Leonard Skinner is in there.



Read more: http://www.skynyrdfrynds.proboards.com
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July 02, 2012 3:05:39 PM UTC Post #2

@ArtimusFan:

It's rather funny you'd believe that. Rossington and Ronnie both mentioned that it was named after the teacher. But feel free to keep believing it came after that song.

They say a diamond only whispers to us when we are alone...It's just forever's little trick
- to help a hammer find a stone

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July 03, 2012 4:11:45 AM UTC Post #3

=fb_steve_rogers said:Some of us take a while to catch up. Only just looked up the origin of the band's name today to find my dear old Mr Shelton (at a school in England in the early 70's) wasn't the first teacher of that era to drive kids from school with persistent nagging about hair length. I left too for that very reason - only difference is I failed to become a great musician!

Can't win 'em all I guess - at least we can play covers and enjoy the nostalgia!

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July 03, 2012 2:58:57 PM UTC Post #4

=My Own Sunrise said:@ArtimusFan:

It's rather funny you'd believe that. Rossington and Ronnie both mentioned that it was named after the teacher. But feel free to keep believing it came after that song.


Bob is not denying the validity of the coach story, only that it is half of the whole story on where the name came from. And what Bob says makes perfect sense in combination with the coach story.

Bob Burns was there with Ronnie and Gary from the beginning and one would think he knows what he is talking about right along with Ronnie and Gary. Also keep in mind that quite often in interviews band members don't always tell the truth, and they tend to exaggerate sometimes, and simply repeat the status quo for simplicity. So you can not always take what Ronnie, Gary, Bob Burns says as gospel truth 100% of the time.

I tend to credit both stories as having some validity towards the whole picture. The name had to come from somewhere and the song uses a closer sounding version than Coach Skinner's name does. And even if his name was the inspiration for the name, is it still not possible that the boy's memories of this song also gave them a means of application because the song uses the name directly?

The boys had a bone to pick with the old coach and the best way to pick it was to say they named the band after him which is probably true, but once again, the name came from somewhere and Bob Burns says it came from the old song and together both stories add up to a more complete and accurate source for the name from what I can tell.

I think it is rather funny you choose to only believe what you choose to believe without giving credit to other possibilities, but feel free to keep believing the name only came from Coach Skinner. Maybe you can explain where the Leonard or Lynyrd part came from better than Bob since you were there with them in beginning right?
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July 04, 2012 4:43:08 PM UTC Post #5

I have it on excellent authority that Bob has the best memory of the "old days" than any of the post crash survivors (most gone now). Bob has also corrected some of the "getting hit with a baseball" story.

________________________________________
I drink enough whiskey to float a battleship around
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