The Essential Lynyrd Skynyrd

Track listing

Disc one

1. "Sweet Home Alabama" – 4:45
2. "I Ain't the One" – 3:54
3. "Was I Right or Wrong?" – 5:24
4. "Gimme Three Steps" – 4:31
5. "Workin' for MCA" – 4:48
6. "Simple Man" – 5:58
7. "Swamp Music" – 3:32
8. "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" – 4:52
9. "Saturday Night Special" – 5:12
10. "Mr. Banker" – 5:22
11. "Comin' Home" – 5:30
12. "Call Me the Breeze" – 5:09
13. "Free Bird" – 9:10

Disc two

1. "What's Your Name?" – 3:33
2. "Whiskey Rock-a-Roller" – 4:16
3. "Tuesday's Gone" – 7:34
4. "Double Trouble" – 2:50
5. "I Know a Little" – 3:28
6. "Four Walls of Raiford" – 4:14
7. "I Never Dreamed" – 5:21
8. "Gimme Back My Bullets" – 3:42
9. "You Got That Right" – 3:47
10. "All I Can Do Is Write About It" – 4:24
11. "That Smell" – 5:51
12. "Free Bird" " – 13:41

• Disc 1, Tracks 1, 5, 7–8, 12 from Second Helping
• Disc 1, Tracks 2, 4, 6, and 13 and Disc 2, Track 3 from (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)
• Disc 1, Track 3 from Skynyrd's First and... Last
• Disc 1, Track 9 from Nuthin' Fancy
• Disc 1, Track 10 from Legend
• Disc 2, Tracks 1, 5, 7, 9, and 11 from Street Survivors
• Disc 2, Tracks 2 and 12 from One More from the Road
• Disc 2, Track 4 from Gimme Back My Bullets
• Disc 2, Tracks 6, 8, and 10 from the Lynyrd Skynyrd Box Set
• Disc 1, Track 11 is previously unreleased

Live songs

• Disc 2, Track 2 recorded 7/7/1976 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
• Disc 2, Tracks 8 and 12 recorded 7/8/1976 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia