Garth Brooks SIblings
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Story Behind the Song: Garth Brooks' Powerful Social Statement 'We Shall Be Free'

In 2017, during his Facebook Live series Inside Studio G, country music king Garth Brooks premiered a never-before-seen alternate music video for "We Shall Be Free."

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The clip was made to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the single in 2002 but ended up on the cutting room floor. The video features imagery from the Sept. 11 attacks, as well as protests and footage from wars through the 20th century. Numerous celebrities make cameos, including Michael J. Fox, Al Gore, John Travolta, Whoopi Goldberg and Brooks' now-wife Trisha Yearwood.

"We Shall Be Free" was penned by Brooks and Stephanie Davis during a stay in Los Angeles while the L.A. riots overtook the city after police officers accused of beating Rodney King were acquitted. The song, released as the first single from Brooks' 1992 album The Chase, champions coming together to create a better world for all human beings and often regains popularity in times of personal or international struggle.

"People have been requesting 'We Shall Be Free' a lot more recently," Brooks told PEOPLE in 2017. "Any time there is turmoil, any time there is division, we are looking for a safe place. This song is telling us, 'We've all got our differences, but instead of letting it separate it, let's revel in those differences and use them to our advantage as one.' I truly think that 25 years later, the message has reached its mark."

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A prior music video for "We Shall Be Free" won Video of the Year at the 1993 Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM Awards). Brooks co-directed the earlier video with Timothy Miller.

Brooks has performed the songs in settings ranging from a 1996 episode of Muppets Tonight to Equality Rocks, a gay rights march held in 2000 in Washington, DC.

"We Shall Be Free" Lyrics

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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