Garth Brooks - We Shall Be Free Lyrics

Garth Brooks Lyrics

"We Shall Be Free"

This ain't comin' from no prophet
Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see
The way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there's a shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skies and the oceans are clean again
Then we shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud
'Cause we shall be free
When we're free to love anyone we choose
When this world's big enough for all different views
When we all can worship from our own kind of pew
Then we shall be free
We shall be free

We shall be free
Have a little faith
Hold out
'Cause we shall be free

And when money talks for the very last time
And nobody walks a step behind
When there's only one race and that's mankind
Then we shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud, have a little faith, hold out
We shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, have a little faith

We shall be free

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Garth Brooks wrote this song in response to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots when the six-day disturbance spread through the city including the beating of Rodney King, an African American taxi driver, by the police.

Many radio stations refused to play this track because of the line "When we're free to love anyone we choose". This message was seen as a call to defend gay rights. That's why Garth Brooks missed the country chart's top 10 for the first time.

The singer recalled the controversy in a 1993 Rolling Stone interview, "I feel bad any time somebody brings up the Christian aspect against 'We Shall Be Free'. Because it was meant to be a gospel song. It was meant to be the truth as I saw it. And being called Brutus and Judas, all kinds of things, really hurts. I do believe that God exists. I do believe in the Bible. But I can't see that loving somebody is a sin."

For his second compilation album, "The Hits", Garth Brooks wrote, "I never thought there would be any problems with this song. Sometimes the roads we take do not turn out to be the roads we envisioned them to be. All I can say about 'We Shall Be Free' is that I will stand by every line of this song as long as I live."

album: "The Chase" (1992)

We Shall Be Free

Somewhere Other Than The Night

Mr Right

Every Now And Then

Walking After Midnight

Dixie Chicken

Learning To Live Again

That Summer

Night Rider's Lament

Face To Face

Something With A Ring To It

(1998 Re-issue Bonus Track)

"We Shall Be Free" lyrics

Garth Brooks Lyrics