"Wild 'N Free" is a country-dance song by the Swedish band

Rednex Rednex is a Swedish musical group whose style is a mix of American country music and modern eurodance, with their appearance and stage names taking inspiration from the American redneck stereotypes. The band originally consisted of the lead s ...

, released as the fourth single from their debut album, ''

Sex & Violins ''Sex & Violins ''(also known on later US releases as ''Cotton Eye Joe (Sex & Violins)'') is the debut studio album by Swedish Eurodance group Rednex, released on Jive Records in February 1995. Content Female vocals on the album are provided by ...

''. Its techno-country dance style is built around a re-recorded sample of "The Infernal Galop" from Act II, Scene 2 from

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

's ''

Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act "op ...

''. The song appeared in the 2006

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

and

Nickelodeon Movies Nickelodeon Movies Inc. is an American Filmmaking, film production company based in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California and owned by Paramount Global. Originally founded in 1995, it serves as both the film production division of Nickelodeon Pro ...

film ''

Barnyard A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard adjoining a barn,Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Barn. n. and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse. Enclosed ...

'' in the scene where the character Wild Mike dances.

Critical reception

James Hyman James Hyman (born 1970) is a British radio and television presenter, music supervisor, DJ and the owner and founder of HYMAG. Hyman studied Film & Media at London Guildhall University (1989-1992, BA Hons, 1st), whilst working at MTV Europe d ...

from British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update commented, "Someone had to give the

can-can The can-can (also spelled cancan as in the original French /kɑ̃kɑ̃/) is a high-energy, physically demanding dance that became a popular music-hall dance in the 1840s, continuing in popularity in French cabaret to this day. Originally dance ...

a stompin' Euro-novelty workout. At least Rednex have done it in style with interesting production and remixes that include the slower Nightcrawlers/ Robin-S sounding ones from Rhythm on the Loose." Another editor,

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland *James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman *James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), Sco ...

described it as a "fiddles scraped and 'French Can Can' whistled corny

Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the re ...

-ish pop chanter". Chuck Campbell from ''

Scripps Howard News Service The E. W. Scripps Company, also known as Scripps, is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by E. W. Scripps, Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a ...

'' wrote that "Rednex pull their oddest move with "Wild and Free", a hyper can-can/

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

/neo-Village People free-for-all."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Wild 'N Free" was directed by Van Der Berg.

Track listings

# "Wild 'N Free" (Original Mix) – 3:39 # "Wild 'N Free" (Remix Edit) – 3:52 # "Wild 'N Free" (Original Extended) – 4:54 # "Wild 'N Free" (Remix Extended) – 4:46

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1994 songs 1995 singles English-language Swedish songs Rednex songs Songs written by Anders Hansson (songwriter) Songs written by Pat Reiniz