I_Wish_I_Knew_How_It_Would_Feel_to_Be_Free

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free

1967 single by Nina Simone

This article is about the song by Billy Taylor. For the album, see I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free (album).
Not to be confused with I Wish I Knew, jazz standard by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren.

"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a jazz piece written by American musician Billy Taylor, originally recorded as an instrumental and later released as a song with lyrics by Dick Dallas. Taylor's original version ("I Wish I Knew") was recorded on November 12, 1963, and released on his Right Here, Right Now! album (Capitol ST-2039) the following year. His 1967 live version, from the album of the same name, was later used as the theme music for the Film... review programme series on BBC Television.[1]

Quick Facts Single by Nina Simone, from the album Silk & Soul ...

Taylor said: "I wrote this song, perhaps my best-known composition, for my daughter Kim."[2]

Cover versions

The song served as an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement in America in the 1960s.[3] A widely played version was recorded by Nina Simone in 1967 on her Silk & Soul album.

Lighthouse Family covered it as "(I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be) Free/One", a medley with U2's "One".[4]

Other artists who have covered the song include Don Shirley (1968), Junior Mance (1968), Illinois Jacquet (1968), Solomon Burke (1968), Marlena Shaw (1969), Cold Blood (1969), John Denver (1969), Doris (1970), Mary Travers (1971), John Fahey (1976), Jools Holland (1997), The Derek Trucks Band (2006), Levon Helm (2009), John Legend and the Roots (2010), Mavis Staples with Levon Helm (2011, released 2022), Emeli Sandé (2012), and The Blind Boys of Alabama featuring Béla Fleck (2021).

The song was also covered by Andra Day for the 2018 film Acrimony.[5]

An arrangement of the song for soprano, chorus, and orchestra by Margaret Bonds was commissioned by Leontyne Price for her albu with the Rust College Choir, but Price did not record Bonds's arrangement.[6]

Dionne Farris performed the song for the soundtrack of the movie Ghosts of Mississippi, released in 1996.[7]

Certifications

More information Region, Certification ...

References

  1. [1]
    Gunn, Alison (November 28, 2016). "The Life of a Song: 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free'". Financial Times. London. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  2. [2]
    "Billy Taylor Discography". Archived from the original on December 5, 2007. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  3. [3]
    Anderson, Sheila E. (2005). How to Grow as a Musician: What All Musicians Must Know to Succeed. Allworth Communications, Inc. p. 67. ISBN 1-58115-416-X.
  4. [4]
    The Lighthouse Family - (I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be) Free / One on YouTube
  5. [5]
    "Andra Day's 'I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free' Cover from 'Acrimony' Released". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  6. [6]
    Leontyne Price, Rust College Choir – I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (1971, Vinyl), retrieved February 19, 2021
  7. [7]
    Meeker, David (2019), Jazz on the screen: a jazz and blues filmography (PDF) (8th ed.), Washington, DC: Library of Congress, p. 796
  8. [8]
    "British single certifications – Nina Simone – I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Fr". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article I_Wish_I_Knew_How_It_Would_Feel_to_Be_Free, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.