The Beatles – Free As A Bird
The first NEW song from The Beatles in 25 years cam in 1995.
Paul, George and Ringo had all been discussing the Anthology series of releases and the accompanying TV series and companion book, as the ONLY historical account of the band and each member, as told by ONLY the fab four! There were many, many recordings on video and just audio of John Lennon out there before he was killed in 1980, so having John, HIMSELF, telling parts of the story throughout the series would be easy!
But the “Threetles” also wanted to record a score to go along with the TV series. However, they had the idea to ask Yoko and Sean if there were any unfinished and unreleased songs they had of John’s that they could “help finish” and release as The Beatles. Paul met up with Sean and Yoko to listen to a few home recordings they had pulled out and offered for the new sessions.
With the help of ELO’s Jeff Lynne, who’d worked with George, producing his ‘Cloud 9’ album as well as being a member of The Travelling Wilburys, Paul, George and Ringo went into the studio with a raw, mono track that they intended to help write lyrics that fit with John’s song, and put it all together “pretending John had just recorded a demo and gave it to the rest and said, “Here ya go, boys! Finish it up!”
A very emotional recording session, Ringo had said in the Anthology, “We looked at it as John had just left for a cup of tea or went on holiday, and we all worked on it with the idea that John would be back…”
“Free As A Bird” was very well received by Beatle fans and most critics and got a lot of air play (of course it did – it was the first NEW Beatles song in 25 years!) and climbed the charts to peak at #6 on the Hot 100!
*Pay attention to the video! It was genius to intersperse Beatles footage in among Beatles symbolism and even characters from Beatles songs.*
