"It's Fun to Be Free" was the ubiquitous theme song for the World of Motion

World of Motion

World of Motion , sponsored by General Motors, was the former tenant of the Transportation pavilion at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort...

 pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot

Epcot

Epcot is a theme park in the Walt Disney World Resort, located near Orlando, Florida. The park is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was initially named...

 theme park. Composed by Disney staff musician Norman "Buddy" Baker

Buddy Baker (composer)

Norman "Buddy" Baker was an American composer who scored many of Walt Disney's films, such as The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, The Shaggy D.A., The Million Dollar Duck and The Fox and the Hound.Baker was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, and got his degree in...

 with lyrics by Xavier "X" Atencio

X Atencio

Francis Xavier Atencio , also known as X Atencio, is a former animator and Imagineer for The Walt Disney Company....

, it is notable among Disney Theme Park music for the sheer number of variations created for the ride, and the song's infectious earworm

Earworm

Earworm, a loan translation of the German Ohrwurm, is a portion of a song or other music that repeats compulsively within one's mind, put colloquially as "music being stuck in one's head."...

 quality.

Lyrics

The lyrics are written in verse pairs, with heavy rhyming patterns within that structure. Though they vary from version to version, the lyrics of the first and second verses, especially when they're the only verses sung, remain largely consistent.

Chord Progression

The chords

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 (as well as key

Key (music)

In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...

, tempo

Tempo

In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 and time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

) vary from version to version, but the progression most commonly used, which is also the one used in the softshoe version released on the Epcot Center Official Albums is as follows;

[Cmaj7] = 1 beat

Cmaj7 = 2 beats

(Cmaj7) = 4 beats/1 measure

Key of Eb 4/4

(Emaj7) (Emaj7) (A7b5) (A7b5)

(E) A G#m7 G#m7 C#7 F#m7 D9 E

C#m7 F#m7 B7 [E] [Fº7] [F#m7] [B7]

(Emaj7) (Emaj7) (A7b5) (A7b5)

(E) F#m7 [G#7sus] [C#7] (C#7)

F#m7 D9 E C#m7

F#m B13 E C#7#5

F#m7 D9 E7 Fº7 (F#m7) (B7)

E E/G# A A#º7 (A/B) [no chord] [B] E

Variations

The ride itself used a one-minute underscore loop, which plays almost uninterrupted from the beginning scenes through the present day. Over this are played harmonies and arrangements befitting different locations (e.g. Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Arabia) and time periods (like the Wild West, Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 Italy and 1960s surf culture

Surfing

Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...

). The ride also utilized minimalistic sound effect segments, frenetic uptempo "speed tunnels" and a swelling orchestral finale. All of these were arranged by Buddy Baker.

Around the pavilion, and in the World of Motion's queue, load and unload areas played a loop of eccentric versions of It's Fun to Be Free punctuated by vehicle noises. Musical styles represented in this loop include ragtime

Ragtime

Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...

 tack piano, dixieland jazz

Dixieland Jazz

Dixieland Jazz was a Canadian music television series which aired on CBC Television in 1954.-Premise:The series host was Trump Davidson, a cornet player. He also hosted a radio music series on CBC's Trans-Canada Network.-Scheduling:...

, Broadway showtune, 1920s Keystone Kop, Copland-esque

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

 rodeo, and kazoo

Kazoo

The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...

. The melody of the song also made an appearance in the Concourse Themes medley, the set of bombastic orchestra and synthesizer tunes that played around Epcot Center's entrance from 1982 to 2001.