No Freedom
by Dido

Album: Girl Who Got Away (2013)
Charted: 51
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Dido penned this song with San Francisco songwriter Rick Nowels, whose other credits include Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place on Earth" and Colbie Caillat's "Fallin' For You." They also collaborated on Dido's transatlantic hit, White Flag."
  • Dido gave birth to her first child, Stanley, halfway through the recording of Girl Who Got Away. She described it to Billboard magazine as "a more optimistic album," than her previous release, Safe Trip Home, in part due to her reflections on becoming a new mother. This gentle pop ballad is built around the hook, "No love without freedom. No freedom without love."
  • The song's music video was directed by Ethan Lader (OneRepublic's "Good Life", Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are") and produced by Nicole Acacio and Rockhard.
  • The song's repeated chorus line of "no freedom without love" struck a chord in war torn countries such as Syria. Dido told BBC News that after its release, she was getting many ''letters from people who are in the middle of a war''.
    She added: "The whole thing sounds quite unreal to me. Is that going to make you fight properly? 'Maybe you want something else. Like AC/DC? 'There's even videos now from Syria. It's pretty amazing, I certainly wasn't writing about that. But when you write an intensely personal lyric, the thing that often surprises you is that it's about most things for other people."
  • The song achieved its highest chart peak in Belgium, where it reached #18.
  • The DJ Cobra remix is included on the bonus disc of Dido's Greatest Hits album. She explained to Jam! Music that the remix came from a rather fortunate accident. "That was made with completely the wrong parts," she said. "Either an engineer or my brother was sent an old demo vocal of a different version of No Freedom out for remixes instead of the right vocal. When I found out I was absolutely gutted. It was completely the wrong song, different melody, chords, words, everything. This mix came back and I listened to the mix and I really, really liked it."
  • Dido commented to Canada.com that this was "A lyric I'm actually very proud of," adding: "It's got so much of what I believe about love and religion and everything is in there for me. It sounds silly because it's such a little song but it was inspired by the feeling of: you can travel around the world and it will be lonely if you've got no one at home loving you and it's the best feeling if you've got love somewhere."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Hardy

HardySongwriter Interviews

The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TV

90210 to Buffy to Glee: How Songs Transformed TVSong Writing

Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.

Terry Jacks ("Seasons in the Sun")

Terry Jacks ("Seasons in the Sun")Songwriter Interviews

Inspired by his dear friend, "Seasons in the Sun" paid for Terry's boat, which led him away from music and into a battle with Canadian paper mills.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Holly Knight ("The Best," "Love Is A Battlefield")

Holly Knight ("The Best," "Love Is A Battlefield")Songwriter Interviews

Holly Knight talks about some of the hit songs she wrote, including "The Warrior," "Never" and "The Best," and explains some songwriting philosophy, including how to think of a bridge.