To compliment our new Youth Music funded programme of work, 'Musical Freedoms', here are our Director's choices representing some of the best tracks about 'freedom' in musical history, as part of this month's Sounds Like..., our monthly series of songs and music representing a different theme.

Our first offering is BlackBird by The Beatles. There are many anecdotes about why Paul McCartney wrote the song, including that it manifested from his reaction to the struggles of Black people in the southern states of North America in the 1960s. Whatever the real reason, the song has come to represent wishing that there is freedom and acceptance for others, and is therefore a perfect place to begin our musical journey. Here is the man himself singing the song live at Abbey Road Studios in 2005:

I don't think we need to say much about our next choice, Beyoncé's Freedom, other than that we think the lyrics are brilliant:

Beethoven's Ode to Joy is about brotherhood and friendship, hence being the choice for the official EU anthem. Here is a brilliant flash mob version of the composition:

We can't do a list like this without the Redemption Song from Bob Marley:

And, last but not least, this is probably our favourite in the YY&M office, for a final bit of fun: