Born Free OST
1966 | Pop
“Stay free where no walls divide you, you're free as the roaring tide, so there's no need to hide. -- Born free and life is worth living, but only worth living 'cause you're born free."
Trivia
- The song hit #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult contemporary charts.
- It was written for the 1966 film of the same name and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
- The song was composed John Barry and with lyrics by Don Black.Black asked Matt Monro, whom he managed at the time to perform the vocals.
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
"Born free; And life is worth living; But only worth living; 'Cause you're born free." Said another way, "give me liberty or give me death!" We can condition our minds to accept limitations. We can live under the yoke of a tyrant. We can submit to slave-like conditions. Humans are capable of subjugating themselves to almost anything. But is that our purpose? A question with a wide array of answers. I insist that humans are meant to be free. We are, as this song says, born free. Limitations are not bad per se, but what limitations do you impose on yourself, and what limitations do others deign to assert over you? Own own fears dig our graves, it seems, because the public permits much.
Sherry Voluntary
This song is from a movie about a game warden and his wife that raise a lion cub. There is an incident and someone demands that the lion either be released into the wild or sent to a zoo. This couple cannot bear to think of their precious lion in a cage, unable to run free, so they undertake the immense task of training the lion raised in captivity to live in the wild, with only three months before they must leave for his new assignment. This movie was a big hit and many people still watch it today. They have so much compassion and sympathy for this magnificent animal. I cannot help but feel so sad when I think of the thousands upon thousands of people in jail for nonviolent drug “crimes.” According to The Prison Policy Initiatives report “Drug offenses still account for the incarceration of almost half a million people, and nonviolent drug convictions remain a defining feature of the federal prison system.” I wish more of our fellow Americans would have some compassion for the tragic situation of humans just like themselves, placed in cages for nothing more that ingesting things which The State deems illegal. Even in the midst of terrible problems in the prison/jail system, there is still such a push for punishment and retribution for “crimes” without victims. If these “offenders” need anything, it certainly won’t be found in a cage. I look forward to the day when more compassion is found for humans who use drugs than fictional lions who might be sent to a zoo.
Nicky P
This one is decidedly different than many of the songs on this list in myriad ways. I really like the way it describes freedom which truly is such a nebulous concept. There are those out there who remark that you cant be free if you need to worry about food and shelter. This is an error of perspective. The bottom line is that's how incredibly well we have beaten back poverty in the modern world. People can simply no longer accept that poverty is a state we are all born into. We are so wealthy as a culture that we have forgotten a store of "stuff" waiting for us at birth is unnatural. It's a problem I'm glad can happen but frustrated that it is. It's hard to think people want to undermine the very thing that has brought the prosperity they see. I bring this up specifically because of this song's heritage with a movie which looks to be about a lion. Lions aren't like people and don't accumulate wealth, they are born into a state where they kill for food or die. If we hadn't increased our capital structures enough to have grocery stores we would too. So the truth is we're all born free to do as we will so freedom can't be something acquired only once we have abundance.