The Free Software Song

by Richard Stallman

You can read the story of the writing of the song, too.

The lyrics of the Free Software Song are sung to the melody of the Bulgarian folk song Sadi moma bela loza

This song is in a rhythm of 7/8; those unaccustomed to odd rhythms often take the unevenness to be a mistake. The meter can be analyzed into three subgroups as slow-quick-quick or 3-2-2. Such meters in Bulgarian music can often be stretched, and some musicians analyze this song as 3-2-3 instead; however, Yves Moreau, who collected and taught the dance, endorses the rhythm of 7.

Downloads

Performances

• A recording (.au format) of Richard Stallman singing this song, also available in Ogg Vorbis format. (If you are not used to a meter of 7/8, you may perceive it as inability to keep time.)
• A recording (.ogg) of the piece accompanied by Bulgarian instruments played in traditional style.
• A video of RMS performing the song (ogg), released under GFDLv1.3+ by the videographer, Julian Coccia.
• A recording (.ogg) of Katie Herzog performing the Free Software Song, released under CC BY-NC-ND.
• A video of Daniel Kelly performing the Free Software Song, released under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Alternate versions

• Another song, inspired by this one but mostly different, sung by the band Fenster (4.5MB).
• A rhythmic version of free software song in Ogg Vorbis format by Thor.
• An improvised piano version by Markus Haist in Ogg Vorbis format (1.2MB), released under GPLv3.
• Another rock-like version by Pjj & Hairyone in Ogg Vorbis format (1.6MB).
• A Spanish punk variant by ALEC in Ogg Vorbis format (1.7MB).
• A version with a different structure in Ogg Vorbis format (3.7MB) by Robert Kay, released under CC-BY-NC-SA.
• A version by the band Zweitgolf: free_software_song_sunnata.ogg, released under the GPL.
• Here is a metal version by Jono Bacon in Ogg Vorbis format (3.9MB), released under CC BY-SA.
• This rock/metal version is put out by Loneload available in Ogg Vorbis format (2.2MB), released under CC BY.
• MooGNU by the anonymous posters on the 4chan technology image board /g/ is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Available in Ogg Video format (4.5MB).
• In 2012, the band Sebkha-Chott released a matricide of the Free Software Song to celebrate the death of ACTA. It's available in Ogg Vorbis (2.3MB), or in FLAC (10.1MB), under the Free Art License, version 1.3.
• The ecantorix program, a singing synthesis frontend for espeak, released under the GPLv3+, features the Free Software Song as an example output.
• Yet another version from Wikimedia Commons (967kB) is licensed under CC0.
• An organ and kalimba version (Ogg Vorbis format, 690kB) is offered by Vaba <vaba@riseup.net> under the CC0 1.0.
• A rock-style loose adaptation by Renich Bon Ćirić and Iván Chavero. Karaoke version. Released under CC BY-SA 4.0 (full credits in Spanish).

You can get a typeset score of the song made with GNU LilyPond. The LilyPond source for the typeset score is also available.

Sadi moma bela loza

Here is a description of the tune of Sadi moma bela loza, a Bulgarian dance tune, in an ad-hoc form of notation using letters for notes. A dash means the previous note continues. There are seven beats per measure, thus seven characters in each group.

    D-CB-A- B-CBAG- G--A--B C--B-BD A--A--- D-CB---
    D-CB-A- B-CBAG- G--A--B C--B-BD A--A--- A------

It is also available as an ABC file.