“Free as a Bird” is a composition that John Lennon initially created and recorded as a home demo in 1977. In 1995, a studio version of this recording, with contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, was officially released as a single by the Beatles. This release occurred 25 years after the band had disbanded.
The single was made available as part of the promotion for The Beatles Anthology video documentary and their Anthology 1 compilation album. During the Anthology project, Paul McCartney approached Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow, to obtain unreleased material by Lennon, allowing the three surviving ex-Beatles to make additional contributions. “Free as a Bird” was one of two songs, the other being “Real Love,” for which McCartney, Harrison, and Starr provided additional instrumentation, vocals, and arrangements. Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra, who had previously collaborated with Harrison on his album Cloud Nine and been part of the Traveling Wilburys, was invited to co-produce the record.
The music video for “Free as a Bird” was produced by Vincent Joliet and directed by Joe Pytka. It offers a unique perspective, portraying scenes from various Beatles songs while following the flight of a bird. These scenes include references to tracks like “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Penny Lane,” “Paperback Writer,” “A Day in the Life,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Helter Skelter.” “Free as a Bird” earned the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1997 and became the Beatles’ 34th Top 10 single in the United States. Remarkably, this song ensured the group had at least one Top 40 hit in four different decades, spanning from the 1960s through the 1990s. It’s notable that 25 years passed between the Beatles’ breakup and the charting of this song.