In these troubled times, we could all use some uplift. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” is one of the most uplifting tunes I know.
The tune was written by Dr Billy Taylor.
It later became an anthem of the civil rights movement, and is best known from this recording by Nina Simone:
I also enjoy the Reflex Re-Edit, a more dancefloor-friendly edit of the original multitrack stems.
Harmonically, the tune gets a lot of its energy from secondary dominants and some bluesy diminished chords. Here’s my transcription of Nina Simone’s intro:
Here’s something interesting that I only noticed after doing the transcription. The snaps on the backbeats are the standard African-American rhythmic backing. But Nina Simone doesn’t accent the backbeats at all. In fact, she seems to be deliberately avoiding them; there are only a few notes in her part that land on beats two and four. That avoidance creates a beautiful rhythmic counterpoint. Feel the spirit!