Released August 13, 1973 Length 7:32 | Genre Southern rock Label MCA Records | |
Recorded Studio One, Doraville, Georgia, April 3, 1973 Writer(s) Ronnie Van Zant
Allen Collins | ||
"Tuesday's Gone" is the second track on Lynyrd Skynyrd's first album, (Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd). One of the band's most popular songs, its relaxing pace and serenading guitars have made it a fan staple. The lyrics are band frontman Ronnie Van Zant's realization that his normal life is finished forever with the band's new MCA/Sounds of the South record deal. "Tuesday," representing life as it was, is gone with the wind. The song is similar in mood to the band's signature tune "Free Bird". Once in an 1975 radio interview, a caller asked Allen Collins, the song's co-writer, what his favorite Lynyrd Skynyrd song was and Allen answered "Tuesday's Gone". Al Kooper adds upfront Mellotron string sounds to the chorus of the song. It is one of a few Lynyrd Skynyrd songs on which Bob Burns, the original founding member and drummer, did not play. Atlanta Rhythm Section's drummer Robert Nix played on the studio version. Bob Burns, however, can be heard playing on the demo version from the same session.
Contents
Cover versions
Metallica covered "Tuesday's Gone" on the album Garage Inc., which features special appearances from Gary Rossington, on guitar Pepper Keenan from Corrosion of Conformity, John Popper from Blues Traveler, Les Claypool from Primus, Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains, Jim Martin formerly of Faith No More, credited as Fatso.
In 1994, a cover version was recorded by country music artist Hank Williams, Jr., as part of a compilation titled Skynyrd Frynds, which featured several country acts performing covers of Skynyrd songs.
Ian Stuart Donaldson of Skrewdriver covered the song with Stigger on the Patriotic Ballads 2 album.
In 2004, Faycel and Pelo covered the song on their first album, entitled Mickey Mouse, released only in Tunisia.
On July 13, 1999, Phish covered the song for an encore at the then-called Tweeter Center (now the Xfinity Center) outside of Boston, in Mansfield, Massachusetts
In 2001, a previously unreleased demo version of the song was featured as a bonus track on the reissued and expanded CD. The demo version is also available on the 2005 Chronicles CD box set.
Bluegrass versions of the song were recorded by The Stevens Sisters, Beth and April Stevens, on their 2002 CD Little By Little, and by Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time on their 2004 tribute CD Lonesome Skynyrd Time.
Atlanta Rhythm Section covered the song on the 2011 album With All Due Respect on the Fuel 2000 Records label.
The prog rock band Ellipsis covered the song, featuring Frankie Avalon Jr. (son of Frankie Avalon) on drums, Dino Papanicalaou (Neil Young's Crazy Horse) keys, and Joseph Michael (Midnight Reign, White Wizzard) vocalist. It is released on HRX Records The Ellipsis Sessions.
Media usage
In popular culture
By the late 2000s, over 30 years after the song's original release, the phrase "Tuesday's Gone" had fallen into popular usage on mid-western college campuses as a slang term indicating that a keg was empty or that a party had otherwise run out of alcohol. This association presumably began due to the song's usage in the film Dazed and Confused in the scene when the keg runs dry.
Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, a Tuesday, the song was placed on the list of post-9/11 inappropriate titles distributed by Clear Channel.