Defend the Indefensible: Paul McCartney's "Freedom"

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Sir Paul's shamelessly peddled immediately post-9/11 rallying call. To be fair, I actually don't think I've heard the whole song all the way through, but the heavily showcased chorus was enough to turn me off immediately.

― Joe (Joe), Friday, 9 December 2005 17:56 (twenty years ago)

this oughta be good

― marc h. (marc h.), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

fucking horrible and ruins and otherwise really good album. I wish I could scratch it right off the CD

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

I'm ashamed Mister Melodymaker couldn't even compete with George Michael's "Freedom."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

doesn't even hold up to Freedom Williams

― 'Twan (miccio), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

After Sir Paul played it at the Superbowl (was it the Superbowl? Well, some big sporting event) in 2002, my brother said, "I don't care about everything else he's done. Paul McCartney should be shot for this." And I agreed. But... it is catchy. In fact, it's in my head right now (Free-DOM! Freeeeee-dom!) and it'll probably stay there for awhile. Thanks a lot, Joe.

― Aleeshie (Aleeshie), Friday, 9 December 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

significantly, he played that song at every show on his 2002 US tour, but didn't play it on any of the european dates.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

That's because Europeans hate our freedom.

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

(I don't think I've ever heard the song, thank goodness.)

― Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

well since the thread title orders us to defend it, i'll just offer that he probably wrote it in the limo on the way to the 9/11 benefit show where he debuted it and it was probably a short limo ride.

in the "indefensible" category, the fact that he continued to play it at subsequent gigs, without taking the extra 10 minutes it would have taken it to turn into at least a listenable ditty, that's where the problem starts.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

I haven't heard it, so I'm supplanting it with "Mother Freedom" by Bread and the Byrds' "Chimes of Freedom". So, "Chimes of Freedom is the wonderful and archetypical Byrds harmonies and Rickenbacher sound" is the best defense I can offer right now. ..and even that is a poorly constructed sentence.

― D.I.Y. U.N.K.L.E. (dave225.3), Friday, 9 December 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

(I don't think I've ever heard the song, thank goodness.)

i'm so jealous of you it's not even funny.

― Lawrence the Looter (Lawrence the Looter), Friday, 9 December 2005 21:55 (twenty years ago)

Oh, good Christ is this song awful. But in fairness, it was some gut reaction to 9/11.

Simply/Having/A wonderful Christmastime...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 9 December 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

will geir defend this one? my bet is no.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 9 December 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

Simply/Having/A wonderful Christmastime...

Alternative Universe: What if Paul had released "Simply having a wonderful Christmastime" as the gut reaction to 9/11?

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 10 December 2005 08:12 (twenty years ago)

fifteen years pass...

lol remember this shit.

― making splashes at Dan Flashes (Neanderthal), Sunday, 1 August 2021 18:32 (four years ago)

And to this day, thanks to "Freedom," there's no more terrorism.

― birdistheword, Monday, 2 August 2021 01:22 (four years ago)

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