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Free As A Bird
Between the years of 1977 and 1980, John Lennon composed many songs at his piano in his Dakota apartment, in New York City. One of his songs, Free As A Bird, was recorded by Lennon on a cassette tape machine, but was never finished. With the release of The Beatles Anthology albums in the works, the remaining Beatles wanted to release several new songs, but wanted to include John Lennon. In 1994, Yoko Ono, John's widow, entrusted three of John's recordings to Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. These three were Grow Old With Me, Real Love and Free As A Bird. John Lennon recorded three takes of Free As A Bird. The first one suffers from various demo-interruptions. Of the three, Take 3 was the one The Beatles chose to use, as it was clear that Lennon combined various tracks to form this composite. The version that you hear by The Beatles is indeed John Lennon with The Beatles as backing vocals. With the help of Jeff Lynne, who co-produced this song with The Beatles, John's original demo was lifted to a higher level, and with today's studio technology, they gave us this wonderful look into The Beatles again. Free As A Bird was released on The Beatles Anthology I, on both CD and vinyl, as well as a CD and vinyl single. On the CD single, it was placed with three other tracks by The Beatles; I Saw Her Standing There, This Boy, and Christmas Time (Is Here Again). I am fortunate to have copies of John Lennon's original Dakota demo's that include all his takes of Free As A Bird; Real Love; Grow Old With Me; Now and Then; Dear John; That's The Way The World Is; India; Mirror, Mirror (On The Wall); Gone From This Place; Across The River; Don't Be Crazy; Illusions; Baby Make Love To Me; Life Begins; She's A Friend Of Dorothy's; You Saved My Soul; Sally and Billy; One Of The Boys; Help Me To Help Myself; and Whatever Happened To... So now, the lyrics to Free As A Bird Original Composition © 1977-1980 John Lennon, Lenono Music, Inc.; The Beatles version © 1994-1995 by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. © 1995 The John Lennon Estate; © 1995 Apple Corps Ltd./EMI Capitol Records. Free as a bird, it's the next best thing to be. free as a bird, home, home and dry, like a homing bird I'll fly as a bird on wings. whatever happened to, the life that we once knew? can we really live without each other? where did we lose the touch that seemed to mean so much? it always made me feel so... free as a bird, like the next best thing to be, free as a bird, home, home and dry, like a homing bird I'll fly as a bird on wings. whatever happened to, the life that we once knew? always made me feel so free, free as a bird. it's the next best thing to be, free as a bird, free as a bird, free as a bird. NOTE: All lyrics contained herein are © Copyright Northern Songs. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. The lyrics contained herein are for the sole use of educational reference for the readers of this article. All other uses are in violation of international copyright laws. This use for educational reference, falls under the "fair use" sections of U.S. copyright law. Copyright © 2000-2022 by John T. Marck. All Rights Reserved. This article and their accompanying pictures, photographs, and line art, may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author, or the registered copyright holders. Except as otherwise stated above, all information contained in this article, EXCEPT song titles, lyrics, and photographs © John T. Marck. |
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