The Rolling Stones recorded a re-worked acoustic version for their 1995 album Stripped, and performed a live version in the 2008 film Shine a Light, which was included on the accompanying live album. The song was also performed at the free concert in Hyde Park, London, on July 5, 1969, released on the DVD The Stones in the Park in 2006.
In 2007, a remixed version of the original recording was used in a television commercial for the Chase Freedom credit card and in 2008 it was used in a UK commercial for a Renault SUV.
The original vinyl bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be included a live version recorded in Oakland, California, in November 1969.
It appears on the Rolling Stones live album Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! as a re-release bonus track, following "Under My Thumb" without a break.
Music and reception
Rolling Stone magazine ranked "I'm Free" as the 78th greatest Rolling Stones song, saying: "A tambourine-spangled folk rocker with chime-y, Byrds-like guitar, this offhandedly libertarian tune wasn't a big hit, but it's one of the Sixties' most pliant anthems."[2]The Guardian identified the song as an example of the improving songwriting of Jagger and Richards at the time, describing the song as "gleefully hymning the arrogance of youth."[3]
Cash Box described it as a "raunchy, hard-driving emotion-packed romancer."[4]
Scottish alternative rock/dance band the Soup Dragons rearranged the song in 1990. Their version interpolates Donovan's 1969 song "Barabajagal"[citation needed] and contains a toasted verse by Junior Reid. The single became the band's biggest hit, reaching the top ten in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and charted in other countries as well. The Soup Dragons' version was featured in the films Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even, The World's End and Renfield.
Critical reception
Reviewing the single, David Giles of Music Week stated that the Soup Dragons "have fashioned a thoroughly contemporary piece of music that could well pay off at a commercial level".[7]
