"Freedom" is a song written and recorded by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

in response to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001. McCartney was in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at the time of the attacks and witnessed the event while sitting in a plane parked on the tarmac at New York's

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

Background

In February 2001, McCartney began recording his twelfth studio album, ''

Driving Rain ''Driving Rain'' is the twelfth studio album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 12 November 2001 as a double LP, a single cassette, and single CD. Background Following the example of ''Run Devil Run (album), Run Devil Run'' brisk pr ...

'', with a set of new musicians he intended to back him on a forthcoming tour, his first since

The New World Tour In 1993, Paul McCartney and his band embarked upon The New World Tour, spanning almost the entire year and almost the entire globe. This tour featured a controversial pre-concert film (starting in the U.S leg of the tour), which was shown before ...

in 1993. By September 2001, the album was finished and ready to be released that November, with the song "

From a Lover to a Friend "From a Lover to a Friend" is a song by Paul McCartney, featured on his 2001 album ''Driving Rain''. It was released as a single and spent two weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #45. It also reached #6 on the Canadian Singles Chart. In th ...

" chosen as the first single for a planned release in October. On 11 September 2001, McCartney was sitting in a plane parked on the tarmac at

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

when the

terrorist attacks The following is a list of terrorist incidents that have not been carried out by a state or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). Assassinations are listed at List of assassinated people. Definitions of terrori ...

occurred, and was able to witness the events from his seat. In an immediate response to the tragedy, it was announced that the proceeds from the "From a Lover to a Friend" single would be donated to aid the families of New York firemen. At the same time, McCartney became heavily involved in organising

The Concert for New York City The Concert for New York City was a benefit concert, featuring many famous musicians, that took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden in New York City in response to the September 11 attacks. Aside from performing for charity, the co ...

, a massive all star charity show planned to be staged at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in front of 20,000 people on 20 October. He had also been inspired to quickly write a new song, "Freedom", which he planned to debut at the show.

Release

Due to the strong audience reception after the performance of "Freedom", featuring

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

on lead guitar with McCartney's touring band, a single with re-recorded studio vocals was rush released to radio a week after the concert. A new retail CD single release was planned for 5 November, as part of a two-song disc with "From a Lover to a Friend", with the earlier version of the single recalled. All proceeds from both singles went to the

Robin Hood Foundation The Robin Hood Foundation is a charitable organization which attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City. The organization also administers a relief fund for disasters in the New York City area. In 2010, a key supporter gave ...

, which distributed funds to families of the victims and to New York's emergency workers. Additionally, Capitol Records decided to halt production of the ''Driving Rain'' album in order to include "Freedom" as a bonus track. Due to this last minute change, no mention is made of the song on the CD booklet, as it was too late to reprint it. Instead, it was promoted on a hype sticker affixed to the front of the CD jewel case. McCartney performed the song at the

Super Bowl XXXVI Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

pregame show with a

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

tapestry rising up in the background as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks. He was joined on stage by 500 children, each representing the 180 countries who televise the event. McCartney performed the song frequently on his 2002

Driving USA Tour The Driving World Tour was a concert tour by English musician Paul McCartney. It marked his first tour of the 21st century and of any kind since 1993's New World Tour. For the first time in nearly a decade, McCartney returned to the road follow ...

. A recording of the song from a show in Dallas appeared on the accompanying live album ''

Back in the U.S. ''Back in the U.S.'' (subtitled ''Live 2002'') is a double live album by Paul McCartney from his spring 2002 Driving USA Tour in the US in support of his 2001 release '' Driving Rain''. It was released with an accompanying DVD to commemorate h ...

''. However he chose not to perform it on subsequent tours, such as his 2005 The 'US' Tour, as he felt the song had become "hijacked" and acquired a militaristic meaning due to the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic ...

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

Track listing

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, acoustic

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Rusty Anderson Rusty Anderson is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who is best known for his work as the lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's touring band though he has worked with an extensive list of artists in addition to his own solo career. Car ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

Abe Laboriel, Jr. Abraham Laboriel Jr. (born March 23, 1971) is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rocker Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo L ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Charts

References

{{authority control Paul McCartney songs 2001 singles Charity singles following the September 11 attacks Music about the September 11 attacks Songs written by Paul McCartney 2001 songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by David Kahne Songs about freedom