Released November 1977 Genre Southern rock Label MCA | Recorded 1977 Length 3:31 | |
Writer(s) Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant | ||
"What's Your Name" is a rock song by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It is the opening track on their album Street Survivors. It peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 6 in the top Canadian songs.
Contents
Background
Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Gary Rossington wrote "What's Your Name", while in Miami with producer Tom Dowd and Booker T. & the M.G.'s guitarist Steve Cropper. The lyrics depict a true story of the band drinking at their hotel bar during a tour, when one of their roadies got into a fight. The band got kicked out of the bar, but they went into another room and ordered champagne. However, as the song suggests, the incident did not happen in the city of Boise, Idaho. Instead, when Van Zant found out that the band 38 Special (led by his younger brother Donnie) was starting its first national tour in that city, the lyric was changed.
Music video
The music video, released after the plane crash which killed several band members, depicts Ronnie's brother, Johnny, along with a newly reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd live in concert (presumably at the Pensacola Civic Center as the music video suggests), interspersed with shots of the road crew setting up for the show, the musicians tuning their instruments, having makeup done, meeting with fans and autographing albums, and showing fans a leisurely side of what the band does in their spare time by having fun playing baseball at a baseball diamond. At the end of the video, a hat similar to Ronnie's trademark hat can be seen atop a microphone stand as a tribute to him.
Rock Band Music Gaming Platform
The song was made available to download on November 30, 2010 for use in the Rock Band 3 music gaming platform in both Basic rhythm, and PRO mode which takes advantage of the use of a real guitar / bass guitar, and standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to three-part harmony vocals.