Born Free (song)
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The song Born Free was composed by John Barry, and lyricized by Don Black, back in 1964, when the Born Free film was released. The song was used to honor Elsa the Lioness, who was one of the most famous animals in history. The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
[edit] History of the Song
The story of "Born Free" involved a woman, her husband and a lioness. For many years the woman (Joy Adamson) had lived in the northern part of Kenya, where her husband (George Adamson) was a senior game warden. One day, George Adamson and the other wardens were out to hunt a man-eating lion. The hunt was successful, but then George and the others discovered three cubs that belonged to the man-eater, and decided to bring the cubs back. Joy and George took wonderful care of the cubs, and gave them each names, due to their characteristics. The largest was named Big One, because of her strength and size, the second-largest was named Lustica which means "Jolly One" in Swahili, because of her habit of whacking her milk bottle, and the smallest was Elsa. She got her name, because she reminded Joy of a friend of hers at school. She was the smallest of the class, and wasn't very good at games, but Joy liked her a lot. The young lioness had a very similar personality.
When the cubs got older, George and Joy realized that they couldn't keep the cubs much longer, and wound up sending Big One and Lustica to a zoo in Norway, but they refused to part with Elsa. But eventually, Elsa got to big for them to keep, and George and the other wardens considered sending Elsa to the zoo, too, but Joy had other ideas...
She and George wound up agreeing on releasing Elsa into the wild. It had never successfully been done before, but Joy knew that Elsa was born free and had to live free, too. So they began, but after various attempts, it became pretty clear that Elsa couldn't survive out in the wild. She was low on health, and Joy and George were certain she would die...
But she didn't. Elsa recovered, and seemed somehow different when she did. Elsa then went wild, but Joy and George saw her and her new cubs many times afterwards, born free and living free, but to them she was always their friend, Elsa.
In 1964, a film adaption was made of the story, and featured Virginia McKenna as Joy, and Bill Travers as George. John Barry was asked to compose the film's score, and he did. One of his pieces was lyricized by Don Black, into the award-winning song, Born Free:
Born free. As free as the wind blows. As free as the grass grows. Born free to follow your heart.
Live free. As beauty surrounds you. The world will astound you, each time you look at a star.
Stay free. Let no walls divide you. You're free as the roaring tide, so there's no need to hide.
Born free. As life is worth living. But only worth living, cause you're born free.
[edit] Uses of the Song
- In the opening scene of the 2005 film, Madagascar, Marty the Zebra is seen galloping through the jungle, as a chorus of penguins sings the song.
- In Dexter (TV series), the title character Dexter Morgan is constantly mocked by the song as a clue to finding his sister Debra Morgan.
| Preceded by "The Shadow of Your Smile" from The Sandpiper |
Academy Award for Best Original Song 1966 |
Succeeded by "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle |
