George Michael Songs - Freedom '90 Lyrics

George Michael - Freedom '90

George Michael - Freedom '90 Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1
Released: 1990

Freedom '90 Lyrics

I won't let you down;
I will not give you up.
Gotta have some faith in the sound;
It's the one good thing that I've got.
I won't let you down,
So please don't give me up,
Because I would really, really, love to stick around.
Heaven knows I was just a young boy,
Didn't know what I wanted to be.
I was every little hungry schoolgirl's pride and joy,
And I guess it was enough for me.
To win the race? A prettier face!
Brand new clothes and a big fat place;
On your rock and roll TV.
But, today, the way I play the game is not the same;
No way.
Think I'm gonna get myself happy.
I think there's something you should know.
I think it's time I told you so.
There's something deep inside of me.
There's someone else I've got to be.
Take back your picture in a frame.
Take back your singing in the rain.
I just hope you understand.
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man.
All we have to do, now,
Is take these lies and make them true somehow.
All we have to see
Is that I don't belong to you,
And you don't belong to me.
Freedom;
You've gotta give for what you take.
Freedom;
You've gotta give for what you take.
Heaven knows we sure had some fun, boy.
What a kick, just a buddy and me.
We had every big shot, good-time, band on the run, boy.
We were living in a fantasy.
We won the race.
Got out of the place.
I went back home, got a brand new face
For the boys on MTV,
But today the way I play the game has got to change.
Oh, yeah.
Now I'm gonna get myself happy.
I think there's something you should know.
I think it's time I stopped the show.
There's something deep inside of me.
There's someone I forgot to be.
Take back your picture in a frame.
Don't think that I'll be back again.
I just hope you understand .
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man.
All we have to do, now,
Is take these lies and make them true somehow.
All we have to see
Is that I don't belong to you,
And you don't belong to me.
Freedom;
You've gotta give for what you take.
Freedom;
You've gotta give for what you take.
Well it looks like the road to heaven,
But it feels like the road to hell.
When I knew which side my bread was buttered
I took the knife as well.
Posing for another picture.
Everybody's got to sell,
But when you shake your ass
They notice fast,
And some mistakes were built to last.
That's what you get,
I say, that's what you get.
That's what you get for changing your mind,
And after all this time
I just hope you understand,
Sometimes the clothes
Do not make the man.
I'll hold on to my freedom.
May not be what you want from me.
Just the way it's got to be.
Lose the face now.
I've got to live

Writer/s: LAW, SIMON/ROMEO, BERESFORD (JAZZY B)/WHEELER, CARON
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Freedom '90

George Michael was trying to free himself from the shackles of Sony, which was his record label at the time. They created an image for him to promote his Faith album, and Michael was now trying to distance himself from it. In the video all the Faith trademarks explode: the jacket, the jukebox, the guitar. Michael was the victim of a Saturday Night Live skit mocking the video.

When the video first came out people were quite shocked because George Michael was barely in it (he doesn't appear in "Praying for Time," also from the album, at all). This was part of his effort to distance himself from his image and bring the focus to his music, and he did it in a very clever way for this video: He got a bunch of Supermodels to lip sync for him. Appearing in the clip were Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz. These five had recently appeared together on the cover of the UK edition of Vogue magazine, which gave Michael the idea.

The video was directed by David Fincher, who was a top music video director before moving on to feature films like Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network. The "Freedom '90" clip was shot in London over a weekend.

In the video, there is a man shot from the waist down - he walks and he scratches his boxers. That is Michael. His scene goes with the line, "When you shake your ass they notice fast some mistakes were built to last," referring to the flack he got from his tush in "Faith," and the consequent spoof of him and his butt on SNL.

The song is autobiographical and chronicles Michael's Wham days with lines like: "Heaven knows we sure had some fun boy, what a kick just a buddy and me, we had every bigshot goodtime band on the run boy, we were living in a fantasy."

In 1996, Robbie Williams released a cover version as his first single after leaving the boy-band Take That. His version tanked, but Williams recovered and went on to a successful solo career with his 1997 album Life Thru a Lens.

Alicia Keys performed this as part of her set during the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. While she was performing this, Kid Rock and Tommy Lee got in a fight that was likely fueled by the presence of Pamela Anderson, who was part of the show. The incident did not appear in the broadcast, but a camera caught the end of the melee and MTV made this video available online.

The year was added to the song title, originally released as "Freedom," so as not to confuse it with the hit single by Wham! also titled "Freedom."