Songfacts®:

• This ballad about making peace at the end of a relationship finds Madonna singing, "Deep and pure our hearts align. Then I'm free, I'm free of mind, I let loose, don't need to know. We're both free, we're free to go." As with several of the MDNA tracks we wonder how much the lyrics allude to the singer's divorce from Guy Ritchie?
• The song reunites Madonna with her brother-in-law Joe Henry. The Alt-Americana singer-songwriter has been married, since 1987, to Madge's sister, Melanie Ciccone. Henry also co-wrote her 2000 hit "Don't Tell Me" as well as the Confessions on a Dance Floor single "Jump" and the Hard Candy track, "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You."
• This is the most stripped-back track on MDNA. Madonna explained to The Sun: "I have to be completely involved in the production. I like the contrast. I like to have something that is just slammed with noise and sound and bass and drum, sensory overload and then create something like 'Falling Free,' which is stripped back and all you can really hear is my voice and the lyrics."
• The other co-writers were William Orbit, who co-produced Ray Of Light with Madonna, and Laurie Mayer, who has spent much of her career working in collaboration with the British producer. Orbit recalled to MTV News: "That was a real delight to do. I know Madonna really enjoyed singing it. She had a terrible cold the day she sang it actually, but she threw herself into it. Madonna sang that one beautifully and I was excited. A friend of mine, Laurie Mayer, wrote that beautiful melody. I think it was really special and different. The more ballads [Madonna] does, the better. Because no one can do ballads [the way she does]. She feels from the heart."