I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free (song)
Encyclopedia
"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a song written by Billy Taylor
& Dick Dallas, most well known for the recording by Nina Simone
in 1967 on her Silk & Soul
album. Billy Taylor's original version (as "I Wish I Knew") was recorded November 12, 1963 and released on his Right Here, Right Now album (Capitol ST-2039) the year after. His 1967 instrumental take was later used as the theme music for The Film programme
on BBC television.
Billy Taylor reports that "I wrote this song, perhaps my best known composition, for my daughter Kim. This is one of the best renditions I’ve done, because it is very spiritual."
. .
It was also used as the theme for the 2004 Olympics, and as the music for a Coca-Cola commercial. Other versions include:
Billy Taylor
Billy Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and since 1994, he was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in...
& Dick Dallas, most well known for the recording by Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
in 1967 on her Silk & Soul
Silk & Soul
Silk & Soul is an album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone.-Information about songs on this album:*"It Be's That Way Sometime", a song written by Nina's brother Sam Waymon....
album. Billy Taylor's original version (as "I Wish I Knew") was recorded November 12, 1963 and released on his Right Here, Right Now album (Capitol ST-2039) the year after. His 1967 instrumental take was later used as the theme music for The Film programme
The Film programme
The Film programme is a British film review television programme, broadcast weekly on BBC One, presented by Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh. The title of the show changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast, with the current series being Film 2011, but when referring to successive...
on BBC television.
Billy Taylor reports that "I wrote this song, perhaps my best known composition, for my daughter Kim. This is one of the best renditions I’ve done, because it is very spiritual."
Notable cover versions
The song served as an anthem for the civil-rights movementAfrican-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
. .
It was also used as the theme for the 2004 Olympics, and as the music for a Coca-Cola commercial. Other versions include:
- Solomon BurkeSolomon BurkeSolomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
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(1968) - Denver, Boise & Johnson (1968)
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(1971) - Dionne FarrisDionne FarrisDionne Farris is an American female R&B/soul musician who sang on three songs with the hip hop group Arrested Development...
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