That Smell

"That Smell" is a song by the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Written by Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins, it was released in 1977 on the album Street Survivors. At the time the song was written, the band had been drinking and doing many different drugs.[1] Van Zant had said that he started drinking heavily to relieve the pressure of performing in front of large audiences.[1]

Van Zant's inspiration for the song was the increasing reckless indulgences of the band members culminating in the evening when guitarist Gary Rossington got drunk and high and survived the crash of his new Ford Torino into an oak tree along Mandarin Road in Jacksonville, Florida,[1] where the band was founded. Van Zant was thus inspired to write the song as a warning about the consequences of careless overuse of drugs and alcohol. The song earned Rossington the moniker "Prince Charming" from Van Zant. Later when asked, Van Zant said, "I had a creepy feeling things were going against us, so I thought I'd write a morbid song."[1] The lyrics cautioned that "tomorrow might not be here for you", and that "the smell of death surrounds you". Three days after the album was released, the band was devastated by a plane crash. The crash killed several members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Van Zant.

"That Smell" was the second single released from Street Survivors and failed to chart.

The song is featured in the films Blow (2001), Joe Dirt (2001) and Wild Hogs (2007), at the end of the fourth episode of the HBO television drama series True Blood (2008). The song appeared in the first season of Entourage. It also appeared in the twenty-first episode of the second season of Miami Vice (1984).