Saturday, January 23, 2010
How Being 46 made Conan O'Brien's last show all make sense...
In case you missed it, Conan O'Brien had his "Tonight Show" appearance last night. At the end of the show, Will Ferrell appeared (along with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Ben Harper, and Beck) and played Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was the perfect way to close out.
Conan O'Brien was born two months after me in 1963, so one effect of seeing his last show was to thing "Gah! He's retiring already! What have I done with my life?" Another was to wonder if the meaning of Free Bird is special for people my age or if it is more universal.
On the off chance that my students don't understand why it was the perfect choice, I'll take you way, way back to 1980. Conan and I were both juniors in high school. The last song at a dance was usually Free Bird. It had that great and frustrating slow-fast-slow pacing that gave fumbling teens a chance to either get close to or away from a member of the opposite sex, and you could sing along to it. If the DJ or band didn't play Free Bird, we all would yell for it. Eventually, this warped into the practice (still popular in some places) of yelling "Free Bird!" at the end of any concert.
Conan O'Brien is the son of a partner at Ropes and Gray in Boston and a medical professor at Harvard, and himself is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard. He's no dummy. I admire his ability to find a way to end his show in the middle of a painful situation by gently deflecting it all into a well of warm memories and humor. Sometimes the mark of intelligence is exactly that: Saying something unexpectedly gracious, or deeper or funnier than our masters deserve. In the end, that ending made NBC look more foolish than any harsh yet true words Conan could have shared.
Life does not change that much. Slow-fast-slow; and then it is over and you walk out into the night air with expectation and regret, surrounded by others, and wonder what happens next, no one quite knowing because we are never quite old enough, ever.
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I try my best to avoid predicting the future (it goes against everything I believe in as an historian)--but here goes nothing:
We are going to grow old with Conan O'Brien. This moment is simply a brief hiatus in his career. In fact, it is likely that this moment of acrimonious humiliation (and his classy response) pushes him onto a completely new plain of public acclaim. Conan lands on his feet--and retires decades from now as the Johnny Carson of our generation.
It is rare for a network to miss an obvious demographic reality like this one (Conan appeals to a much younger and affluent segment of consumers than Leno or Letterman), but NBC has somehow (perhaps out of arrogance and pettiness at the top) cut lose a gold mine.
This petulant move by NBC will probably come to rival the Babe Ruth trade in terms of executive cluelessness.
We are going to grow old with Conan O'Brien. This moment is simply a brief hiatus in his career. In fact, it is likely that this moment of acrimonious humiliation (and his classy response) pushes him onto a completely new plain of public acclaim. Conan lands on his feet--and retires decades from now as the Johnny Carson of our generation.
It is rare for a network to miss an obvious demographic reality like this one (Conan appeals to a much younger and affluent segment of consumers than Leno or Letterman), but NBC has somehow (perhaps out of arrogance and pettiness at the top) cut lose a gold mine.
This petulant move by NBC will probably come to rival the Babe Ruth trade in terms of executive cluelessness.
Maybe Free Bird is just a bit more special for our generation, because we were there when it started. I remember that so well, every high-school dance ending with that song; a band of guys in my graduating class being allowed to play in the gym, during some end-of-the-year assembly during the school day, and everyone (even the younger teachers) screaming for Free Bird . . . . . . . . and riding the bus on school trips and the kids who sat in the back of the bus blasting Sweet Home Alabama over and over . . .
Maybe it wasn't just in the South, either. Obviously it was everywhere. I had no idea why people liked Free Bird, being the clueless geek that I was, but I got caught up in Lynyrd Skynrd without even trying.
I didn't see Conan's last show (and when I clicked on the Play arrow just now, it said that NBC had removed it because of some kind of copyright problem!), but I'm glad he played Free Bird. I'm sure it tapped into some of the forty-somethings at NBC's psyches, too.
Maybe it wasn't just in the South, either. Obviously it was everywhere. I had no idea why people liked Free Bird, being the clueless geek that I was, but I got caught up in Lynyrd Skynrd without even trying.
I didn't see Conan's last show (and when I clicked on the Play arrow just now, it said that NBC had removed it because of some kind of copyright problem!), but I'm glad he played Free Bird. I'm sure it tapped into some of the forty-somethings at NBC's psyches, too.
# posted by 
: 4:34 PM
: 4:34 PM
That rocked! The clip worked for me. Billy Gibbons is an underrated great guitar player and obviously has a sense of humor.
Yes, Freebird was ubiquitous on the radio from the 70's forward. "Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd" was the first record I ever bought and I am not ashamed to say so.
Playing the song on our College radio station was an almost immediate ground for suspension, but many of us secretly loved it anyway.
If you say "What song is it you wanna hear" in certain circles it still gets a laugh. Hard to believe Ronnie Van Zandt's been dead for 33 years and that the song itself is nearly 40 years old.
And yes, NBC screwed up bigtime.
Yes, Freebird was ubiquitous on the radio from the 70's forward. "Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd" was the first record I ever bought and I am not ashamed to say so.
Playing the song on our College radio station was an almost immediate ground for suspension, but many of us secretly loved it anyway.
If you say "What song is it you wanna hear" in certain circles it still gets a laugh. Hard to believe Ronnie Van Zandt's been dead for 33 years and that the song itself is nearly 40 years old.
And yes, NBC screwed up bigtime.
My generation got shafted - all we had was "I don't want to miss a thing" from that crappy asteroid movie and "My heart will warble on" by Celine Dion.
Another song was The Beatles 'The Long and Winding Road'
On the topic of NBC - it is a wonder that Jeff Zucker is still employed.
On the topic of NBC - it is a wonder that Jeff Zucker is still employed.
Scott, Stairway to Heaven was my senior prom's theme, in the spring of 1979. (The folded-up bleachers in the gym, decorated, were the stairway). So you're not alone. They played Freebird, too.
# posted by : 9:55 PM
: 9:55 PM
Billy Gibbons was Jimi Hendrix's
favorite guitar player. It isn't
difficult to see why.
RRL
favorite guitar player. It isn't
difficult to see why.
RRL
# posted by : 1:28 AM
: 1:28 AM
I loved Conan's last show. I felt bad for him but loved what he said and how gracious he was. I totally GOT the Freebird thing! ALso, I have been watching Conan since 1993 when he first replaced Letterman. I thought he was just brilliant and I could not believe what happened. I hope he figures out another way to be on TV because I will truly miss him.
I was JUST GOING TO SAY that our dances ALWAYS ALWAYS ended with either Freebird or Stairway HAHAHA. OMG Impossible to dance to either one. I think people liked it because they were TEN MINUTES LONG, if you know what I am talking about. hahahah
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