"I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" is a jazz song with gospel elements, with music by Billy Taylor and lyrics by Dick Dallas. Taylor first wrote the instrumental "I Wish I Knew" for his daughter Kim, recording it on November 12, 1963 and releasing it in 1964 on his album Right Here, Right Now! for Capitol. Taylor described it as perhaps his best-known composition. Nina Simone's 1967 version, issued as a single from her album Silk & Soul on RCA, is the most widely played recording of the song. A live version she recorded that year was later used as the theme music for the BBC review programme Film. During the 1960s the song served as an anthem of the American Civil Rights Movement. Other versions include recordings by Don Shirley, Junior Mance, Illinois Jacquet, Solomon Burke (1968), Marlena Shaw, Cold Blood and John Denver (1969), as well as a medley by Judith Durham and Lighthouse Family that includes U2's "One".
