Songfacts®:

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, Van Morrison consistently criticized the lockdown measures that halted almost all live music in the UK from March 2020. He released a trio of anti-lockdown songs - "Born to Be Free," "As I Walked Out," and "No More Lockdown" - where he protests against the British government's coronavirus restrictions. The fourth track in the Brown Eyed Girl bluesman's series finds him joining forces with Eric Clapton.
• Written by Morrison and performed by Clapton, this song finds the English guitar legend urging the public to stop being "a slave" but instead stand up to the "police state" that he believes is taking away our freedoms. Clapton ends the song with an allusion to the infamous 18th century highwayman Dick Turpin:
  
  Stand and deliver
  Dick Turpin wore a mask too
• Eric Clapton had previously expressed his support Morrison, saying, "There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music, he is an inspiration! We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover."
• All proceeds from the song go to Morrison's Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund, which assists musicians who are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown.
• As venues started to re-open in 2021, Clapton announced that he would not play any that require vaccination for entry, stating, "I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present."
  
  Clapton got vaccinated, but it did not go well: After taking the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, his hands and feet swelled up and he was worried he wouldn't be able to play again.