I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free (song)

Infobox Single
Name = I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free


Artist = Nina Simone
from Album = Silk & Soul
A-side =
B-side =
Released = 1967
Format =
Recorded =
Genre = Gospel
Label = RCA Records
Length = 3:06
Writer = Billy Taylor & Dick Dallas
Producer =

"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a song written by Billy Taylor & Dick Dallas. Originally recorded by Nina Simone in 1967 on her "Silk and Soul" album. Billy Taylor's own instrumental version, recorded the same year, is used as the the theme music for The Film programme on BBC television.

Billy Taylor reports that "I wrote this song, perhaps my best known composition, for my daughter Kim. This is one of the best renditions I’ve done, because it is very spiritual." [ [http://www.billytaylorjazz.com/discography.php Billy Taylor Discography] ]

Notable cover versions

The song was used as the theme for the 2004 Olympics, as the music for a Coca-Cola commercial, and it served as an anthem for the civil-rights movement. [Anderson, Sheila E. "How to Grow as a Musician: What All Musicians Must Know to Succeed", Allworth Communications, Inc. page 67, (2005) - ISBN 158115416X] Other versions include:

* Billy Taylor Trio (1967)
* Illinois Jacquet (1968)
* The Ray Charles Singers (1969)
* Shirley Scott (1969)
* Cold Blood (1969)
* Glenn Yarbrough (1970)
* Mary Travers (1971)
* Jools Holland (1997)
* Leontyne Price (1997)
* Marc Shaiman (1997)
* Solomon Burke (1999)
* Marlena Shaw (2000)
* Lighthouse Family (2002)
* Sharlene Hector (2004)
* Martin Taylor (2005)
* John Denver (2006)
* Irma Thomas (2006)
* The Derek Trucks Band (2006)
* Human Highway (2008)

References