Late Saturday afternoon, heading towards teatime
I went into an empty bar, on a college campus
I might remember where, in the fulness of time
I bought a lager beer, then walked over to the juke box
Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd was my first selection
Then probably Led Zeppelin, or John Lennon’s Imagine
Anyway, by the time Free Bird was reaching a climax my table
Was awash with other students, here on my summer school
And so it was, in those first few minutes, I had found
My companions, for the rest of the week of creativity
Of course some left our group, and others joined
But the nucleus remained, as if we too were a troupe
I only tell you this because last night, more than forty years
After the event, it came to me in a most realistic dream
If I wanted to find out where the bar was
How on earth would I go about it
For a long time Free Bird was on every juke box
In every bar, on every university campus
Not just in England but all over the world
But it was England, for I only once went elsewhere
That was to Sterling, Scotland; where the initiation ceremony
Was to sit in a circle and play rugby-style drinking games
So maybe it was York, or Reading, or Bath, or Durham, or UEA
I have left out Sussex for I know exactly what happened there
And I know that at Warwick I was on my own, working
On my master’s dissertation, with no escape to Lynyrd Skynyrd
And using the process of elimination it wasn’t vibrant Bath or UEA
Neither was it Reading, nor Durham for they were both very dull
Right now I have just watched a twelve minutes
And thirty two seconds Youtube video
Of Free Bird being played live in Atlantic city
One song supporting a cast of hundreds
One song entertaining a chorus of millions
One song spread out across so so many years
