Post by Lydia Purple on Dec 19, 2013 15:08:09 GMT -8
"Free As a Bird", The Beatles first 'new' recording in over 25 years, which was based on a demo recording made by the late John Lennon and added to by the three surviving Beatles and produced by Jeff Lynne, stalled at no.2 on the British chart behind Michael Jackson's "Earth Song". It was to peak at no.6 in America the following month.
"Free as a Bird" is a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995 a studio version of the recording, incorporating contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, was released as a single by the Beatles, 25 years after their break-up and 15 years after the death of Lennon.
The single was released as part of the promotion for The Beatles Anthology video documentary and the band's Anthology 1 compilation album. For the Anthology project, McCartney asked Lennon's widow Yoko Ono for unreleased material by Lennon to which the three remaining ex-Beatles could contribute. "Free as a Bird" was one of two such songs (along with "Real Love") for which McCartney, Harrison, and Starr contributed additional instrumentation, vocals, and arrangements. Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, who had worked with Harrison on Harrison's album Cloud Nine and as part of the Traveling Wilburys, was asked to co-produce the record.
The music video for "Free as a Bird" was produced by Vincent Joliet and directed by Joe Pytka; from the point of view of a bird in flight, it depicts many references to Beatles songs, such as "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane", "Paperback Writer", "A Day in the Life", "Eleanor Rigby" and "Helter Skelter". "Free as a Bird" won the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was The Beatles' 34th Top 10 single in the United States. The song secured the group at least one Top 40 hit in four different decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s). There is a span of 25 years between the Beatles' break-up and the song's charting.