It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Born Free” by Roger Williams
September 27, 1966
“Born Free” by Roger Williams
#1 on the Billboard Easy Listening Singles chart, September 3-30 & October 22 – November 4, 1966
“Born Free” (“as free as the wind blows / as free as the grass grows”) is one of the most memorable movie themes of the ’60s, one that continues to be referenced and parodied to this day. (It’s recently popped up in such disparate films as the animated Madagascar series and the experimental documentary The Act of Killing.)
Its namesake film chronicles the true story of Joy and George Adamson, wildlife conservationists in Kenya who adopt an orphaned lion cub, Elsa, and then successfully release her back in the wild. The movie was a major hit, but its theme song was even more successful.
“Born Free” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became the most popular single of the year on Billboard’s Easy Listening charts. Despite all its subsequent accolades, however, “Born Free” the song was initially cut from Born Free the movie — until it was rescued by an unlikely source.
John Barry, best known for his music for the James Bond series, composed Born Free‘s score, penning the title song with his Thunderball collaborator, Don Black. In addition to writing lyrics, Black also managed British crooner Matt Monro, the voice behind the title song to From Russia With Love.
Barry and Black enlisted Monro to perform Born Free’s sweeping, wide-open theme song. The film’s producers, however, didn’t care for tune, unceremoniously snipping it from the final cut. In a 2008 interview with the Sunday Times, Black explained, “The film was about lions, so the producers were determined that the song should be all about lions. I argued that it had to be about freedom. When you write a lyric, you look for the universal theme.”
It was this universality that gave “Born Free” a life beyond the confines of a lion-in-Africa movie. Pop pianist Roger Williams took a mostly-instrumental stab at the song, with a male chorus providing vocal backup in the second half. Williams had earned a #1 pop hit over a decade earlier with his version of “Autumn Leaves” in 1955, followed by a string of other successful singles.
The increased dominance of rock in the early ’60s dampened his chart run, but he remained a popular act. Still, the immense popularity of Williams’ “Born Free” — topping the Easy Listening charts and peaking at #7 on the Hot 100 — seemingly emerged out of nowhere.
Unlike some of the more lackadaisical attempts at the song, such as the version by Andy Williams (no relation), Williams’ pounding chords and the booming male chorus that backs them feel almost martial. In Williams’ hands, “Born Free” is a firm declaration of intent to live one’s intended life, regardless of the strictures of society. It’s not aggressive by any means — those twinkling flourishes and crooned “oooohs” remind us we’re firmly in easy-listening territory — but its emphatic assertion that “life is worth living / but only worth living / ’cause you’re born free” gives the song an intensity befitting a film about a wild animal.
Once Williams’ interpretation started climbing the charts, Born Free’s producers frantically swooped in to reinstate the song to the film — especially while it was still in its Oscar-eligibility period. A new, shorter version of “Born Free” performed by Monro was tacked over the end credits. The gambit paid off: “Born Free” triumphed at the Oscars over such heavyweight contenders as the themes to Alfie and Georgy Girl.
Barry eventually picked up more Academy Awards for the scores to The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa, and Dances With Wolves, while Black went on to pen lyrics to movie-theme #1 hits “To Sir With Love” and “Ben.” The pair also continued their Bond collaboration, co-writing the title songs for Diamonds are Forever and The Man With the Golden Gun.
Williams also benefited from a career boost from “Born Free.” Although he’d never have another Top 40 pop hit, Williams would become an adult contemporary mainstay. He eventually earned the title of best-selling pianist in history, racking up 18 gold and platinum albums.
While Williams rescued “Born Free” from obscurity, however, the song ultimately transcended him, remaining lodged in the popular consciousness long after the pianist himself vanished from it.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
