Lynyrd Skynyrd – Original Drummer Bob Burns

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Bob Burns

BOB BURNS – Lynyrd Skynyrd Original Drummer

I was talking with Bob Burns the other day. Bob was the original drummer of Lynyrd Skynyrd. We were remenising on the days when we were young boys, teenagers. I was about 2 – 3 years older than the boys in the band except Ronnie and I were the same age. I guess it was about 1964 or 1965, this was before any of the boys thought about a band.

Bob and I went through elementary and junior high school together. We were very good friends. We played ball, rode bicycles, and fished when we could. This was before Ronnnie and Gary discovered Bob played the drums. As we were talking, Bob would show me still what a very good memory he has still after all these years.

We were talking about a little bully kid that used to harass the kids, until I showed up. This annoying little brat had to be put in line. Bob said “Look at him shoving the girl!” That did it. I ran over to him, slapped him around and body slammed him on his back. Ultimate fighting was around on the west side in the 60s. Well, I let him get up and said, “Your bullying days are over”. I put his bike over my shoulder and climbed up to the top of the telephone pole and climbed down. Bob was laughing hysterically. We got on our bikes and rode off. The next day, the boy’s mother brought him down to the ball park and said she would give me $5 if I would get his bike down. Shoot, this was a fortune back then. Man, I ran up the pole, grabbed that bike and climbed back down to a big pay day! It took me and Bob all day to spend that $5. And that boy, he sure was a different kid after that, just a little attitude adjustment.

The next story Bob brought up at the same park one day we were messing around on our bikes. Bob was off his. I was riding by on mine. Bob was holding a long stick or limb. For some unknown reason, he threw it spear like right at my front wheel. Swish, it went right through my front wheel spokes, locked against the forks and in an instant, I went over the handle bars right down, face first. This was extremely embarrassing for a boy of my caliber. Bob screamed, “I didn’t mean it”, I didn’t mean to do that, “I’m sorry, Gene”. He was shaking all over. I still remember that. He was worried I was going to get mad and beat him up. I said, “Only you, Bob Burns, only you could get away with that.” “It was an accident, wasn’t it” “Yes, yes”, Bob said. I said, “come on, I’ve got to wash my face”. The pain of this face getting scarred up was scary. If I would have known what it would look like in 2007, 1964 sure wouldn’t have bothered me.

Airplane crashes, car wrecks, and falling off several buildings while iron working has left a few scars. They don’t look near as bad as the ones on the inside.

Bob’s memory truly does amuse me. He also remembered the little spider monkey I had. Bob said the monkey would ride on my handle bars all over the place. Everbody loved that monkey. I can hardly remember that monkey. I can remember someone left the monkey out on chain one night and the dog killed him. But the dog was stratched and bit all up. The monkey put up a good fight. If he had been a little bigger, he might have whipped that dog.

We spoke about when we were all playing ball one day at Chriswell field. Bob was at 3rd base. Ronnie was at bat. Ronnie hit a line drive blast that hit Bob right in the back shoulder area right below his head. Bob fell to the ground yelling with pain. Everybody ran over to him to see if he was going to live. Dang, there wasn’t even any blood. That ran the spectators off. “Play Ball,” one of them, Ronnie or Gary said.”Hey, we heard about you. You play drums, don’t you”? Bob said, “yes”. “Good, we need a drummer”. So, Bob Burns was the drummer Ronnie, Gary and Larry Junstrum needed for a band. All they lacked was the skinny, lanky Allen Collins. He would come later. Anyway, the game went on and life would change that day for Bob, my friend.

Bob Burns was the powerhouse drummer behind the Lynyrd Skynyrd Band and their hit songs on their first 2 albums. Bob left the band in 1975 after a bad auto accident.

We talked for a long time. Still, after everything he’s been through, his memory is still sharp. Mine, one the other hand is not so good. After I went trough the fuseloge of the airplane in the crash, I landed on my head and had a bad head injury which in turn broke my neck at C5 and fractured most of my cervical and thoracic vertebrae on impact. I remember in the hospital, the doctor saying I had some brain damage. Probably will end up in the memory section, looked like it to them. Boy, they were right. My memory is shot. But I can bring some things back if someone brings things up. Short term is that is.

Everytime I talk to Bob, I can still see how funny he still is. Bob was always funny. I was told that in one of his high school classes, he was asked to stand up and tell a story about his summer. Bob stood up straightfaced and told of Gangas Rulfus, a man he met one day on the street. I was told Bob talked of this man like he knew all his life. Gangas Rulfus came straight from the mind of Bob Burns. No one knew any different. He had a great imagination even back then. Bob’s head is elongated, kind of tall and thin. So, early on we gave him the nickname Horsehead. When I called him that, he said it’s been many years since he’d heard that. Brought back more memories. I sure hope I see him again real soon. See you in October, Horsehead!

Gene Odom

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