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Released in 2000

Free Now

Written by Paul McCartney • The Beatles • Super Furry Animals

Last updated on August 19, 2024

Album This song officially appears on the Liverpool Sound Collage Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 2000

Timeline This song was written, or began to be written, in 1967, when Paul McCartney was 25 years old)

Master album

“Free Now” is a track from the 2000 album “Liverpool Sound Collage” by Paul McCartney, Super Furry Animals, and Youth. It features various samples from The Beatles era, including:

  • 0:02-0:07: George Harrison says, “The bit that John finally got just after that. And we’ll do both of the do what you want to do.” [Think For Yourself]
  • 0:07-0:15: George Harrison’s speed varied loop with distortion of “Do what you want to do.” [Think For Yourself]
  • 0:38-1:42: Paul McCartney sings “I feel it, I feel it, oh baby now I feel it … Gotta be free now”. The original singing was released in 2017 as part of the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” reissue, on the track “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9 and Speech]” at around 2:08.
  • 1:08-1:10: Sample from the ending of “Magical Mystery Tour” [behind Paul singing “Free Now”]
  • 1:29-1:33: Sample from the ending of “Magical Mystery Tour” [behind Paul singing “Free Now”]

From BeatlesBlogger.com, April 28, 2017:

Alternate versions of some of the songs from the forthcoming 50th Anniversary Edition of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band are beginning to appear on the web.

There’s this one, a stripped-back example of the title track, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9 and Speech]’.

It’s interesting on a whole range range of levels, not least because we now know exactly where Paul McCartney went for inspiration for his experimental album Liverpool Sound Collage, released back in the year 2000.

If you listen to the ‘Sgt. Pepper [Take 9]’ track at around 2’08” in, he’s singing the same words we hear on the track ‘Free Now’.

On the Liverpool Sound Collage album cover McCartney credits The Beatles (and collaborators the Super Furry Animals), but not exactly where the Beatle samples used across the album come from. Now we know the origins of at least one of them.

Variations

Officially appears on

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 2) 1990-2012

This new book by Luca Perasi traces Paul McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1990 to 2012 in the form of 250 song entries, filled with details about the recordings, stories behind the sessions and musical analysis. His pop albums, his forays into classical and avant-garde music, his penchant for covering old standards: a complete book to discover how these languages cross-pollinate and influence each other.

The second volume in a series that has established itself as a unique guide to take the reader on a journey into the astonishing creativity of Paul McCartney.

Read our exclusive interview with Luca Perasi

Buy on Amazon

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