Freedom

7" : EPIC A 4743
7" Picture Disc : EPIC WA 4743 (George shaped PD in stand-up 2-sided wallet)
7" Picture Disc : EPIC QA 4743 (Andrew shaped PD in stand-up 2-sided wallet) 
12" : EPIC TA 4743
CHARTED : 13 OCT 84
HIGHEST CHART POSITION : 1
Number of Weeks : 14

FRONT COVER

Photography Tony McGee / Artwork Peter Saville Associates

"Girl all I want right now is you"

 The Motown-influenced Freedom was released in October and reached #1 in the UK after only a week in the charts, and stayed at the Top for three weeks. Freedom was the 10th biggest selling single of 1984, selling 850,000 copies in the U.K alone.

This song also reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in October 1985.

The lyrics are full of the turmoil one experiences of staying in a destructive relationship where one partner loves another more than the other "part-time love just brings me down" and the inevitable hurt this causes. A situation that Michael finally appears to resolve in the song Faith — a slowed down version of the chorus is played on an organ as the introduction of the song — where he is building the confidence to meet someone new and get the 'freedom' he has been dreaming of.
Freedom was written in a taxi en route to the recording studios in France and completed within 24 hours !

Freedom tackles the compulsion to accentuate the positives in our broken relationships. George Michael conjures a dark scenario where his expressed desire for monogamy is brushed aside — “If you loved me, baby, you’d deny it, but you laugh and tell me I should try it.” The callous disregard exhibited by the object of his affections ought to have listeners yelling at their cassette player like viewers of horror movies try to warn the on-screen characters, yet how can we not ache for the hero, so earnest in his intentions and so foolish in his optimism? When Michael sings, “You could take me to hell and back just as long as we’re together—and you do”,  he is grudgingly acknowledging the complexities of the things we define as love. Haven’t we all, in one way or another, felt “like a prisoner who has his own key”?

Wham! never got credit for such intricate pathos. Too many judged their proverbial book by its cover, but 25 years on, it’s clear the story was more complicated than the cover ever let on. Time has locked the song’s characters into an eternity of repeating their mistakes, but as listeners, we are able to correct our errant ways. Let’s start by giving credit where credit is due.

— Bill Reagan, PopMatters.

MUSIC VIDEO

After the initial video was abandoned, Wham! decided to use clips from the China tour to promote Freedom. The film begins with George and Andrew debating the triumphs and failings of the trip against the background music of Richard Hartley. Although most of the footage is available on the Foreign Skies video, it somehow becomes more meaningful when summed up within a four-minute pop video. The ever fashion conscious Andrew models no less than five different tartan designs.

U.K 7" Double Picture-disc

The single was released as a double square white picture disc, restricted to 9000 copies only.
The singles were sold separately, and designed to fit into a double PVC cover 

sold with the Andrew disc.
7" Epic WA 4743 - limited square picture disc with George Michael
7" Epic QA 4743 - limited square picture disc with Andrew Ridgeley

12" U.K Front Cover

Photography Chris Cramer

The 12" version was one of the first of several WHAM! 12" releases 

to have a different cover to that of the 7".
It is interesting to note that neither the 7" nor 12" U.K covers 

included the group's name or the song title.

12" U.K Back Cover

7" SINGLE (U.K)

A. Freedom — 5:08

B. Freedom [Instrumental] — 5:10 

12" MAXI-SINGLE (UK)

A. Freedom [Long Version] — 7:14

B. Freedom [Instrumental] — 5:10

7" European Front Cover

12" European Front Cover

7" SINGLE (U.S)

A. Freedom — 5:00

B. Heartbeat — 4:42

12" MAXI-SINGLE (US)

A. Freedom [Long Mix] — 6:16

B. Hearbeat [Instrumental] — 4:42

B. Freedom [Instrumental] — 5:10

Freedom [Long Mix] different to Freedom [Long Version] on the UK 12".

7" U.S Front Cover

7" U.S Back Cover

Japanese Releases

FREEDOM

(George Michael)

Every day I hear a different story

People saying that you're no good for me


Saw your lover with another


And she's making a fool of you

Ooohhh
If you love me baby you deny it

But you laugh and tell me I should try it

Tell me I'm a baby

And I don't understand

But you know that I'll forgive you


Just this once twice forever

Baby, you could drag me to hell and back


Just as long as we're together

And you do

I don't want your freedom

I don't want to play around

I don't want nobody baby

Part time love just brings me down

I don't need your freedom


Girl all I want right now is you

Like a prisoner who has his own key


But I can't escape until you love me


I just go from day to day


Knowing all about the other boys
Take my hand and tell me I'm a fool


To give you all that I do


Bet you someday baby


Someone says the same to you

But you know that I'll forgive you


Just this once twice forever

Baby, you could drag me to hell and back


Just as long as we're together

And you do

I don't want your freedom

I don't want to play around

I don't want nobody baby

Part time love just brings me down

I don't need your freedom


Girl all I want right now is you

FUN STUFF !

Freedom was used in two japanese commercials for Maxell Audio Cassettes,
with altered lyrics :
"I can't wait to see you, why don't you come here no more ?"