From the Aisles of Grocery Store: Let's Listen to Michael McDonald's "Sweet Freedom"

From the 1986 'Running Scared' soundtrack

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I was at the grocery store this past week when I was again reminded how rad Michael McDonald is. Here in Santa Fe, something as mundane as a trip to stock the fridge can be an exercise in patience while trying to get out in under an hour while dodging retirees, so it’s always a welcomed moment when you’re able to get lost in a song you haven’t heard in a while.

There’s a true corporate craft to grocery store music (Angel Olsen is also a fan of this idea, as her 2021 EP Aisles was five songs she loves from the grocery store). I mostly prefer Sprouts as they’re usually comfortably cruising in the yacht rock lane, as well as the certainty you’ll hear Phil Collins at some point.

I do not share the same views on Michael McDonald as Paul Rudd in The 40-Year-Old Virgin¹, as I love both of his eras with Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, which are usually in some form of constant rotation around here. As for his solo stuff, though, I can generally leave it. This is not the case with “Sweet Freedom,” his R&B dance-inducing song from 1986, which had me bobbing around the produce.

“Sweet Freedom” is a non-album single used to sell the Running Scared soundtrack, a buddy movie starring the late great Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal as two Chicago cops out to make one last arrest before moving to Key West to open a bar. The video is from another era when the lost art of the movie tie-in music video was common practice. “Sweet Freedom” features many clips of Hines and Crystal doing their cop thing while cutting to Michael McDonald performing the song in what we can only assume is a Key West bar, thanks to his festive Hawaiian shirt. This is a rare one, though, where we get Hines (rocking a totally 80s Walter Peyton cut-off jersey) and Crystal showing up to goof alongside McDonald. This thing is so ridiculous:

When I sent the video to my buddy who has been known to join me in belting “Takin’ It to the Streets” and “What a Fool Believes,” after a few pints, he replied: “Not sure if I’ll ever understand why Billy Crystal was anyone’s sex symbol, but I’m still glad he was.”

I don’t disagree, but he wears the beard in Running Scared and City Slickers well.

I was a baby when “Sweet Freedom” came out, but it’s most certainly one of those you remember from the radio for years during your childhood. It’s easy to see why because this thing was a smash. “Sweet Freedom” reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. McDonald was also nominated for a Grammy for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance,” and I’m okay with the equally amazing Steve Winwood beating McDonald’s golden vocals chords with “Higher Love.”

There’s pure mid-80s industry power behind this song - penned by Rod Temperton, who also wrote the soundtrack may not be a name you know, but credit him for writing some of Michael Jackson’s most significant early hits like “Thriller,” “Off the Wall,” and “Rock With You,” as well as others for artists like George Benson, and the disco classic, “Boogie Nights.” Since it was the 80s, we also needed keyboards, synths, and a load of horns, and none other than the legendary Greg Phillinganes was on keys.

As great as the music video is, I now know I prefer the almost eight-minute version of “Sweet Freedom,” which grooves a bit more while providing more space for McDonald and singer Siedah Garrett’s interplay that was common for belters of the era:

Have any similar grocery store songs? Let me know in the comments!

“Sweet Freedom” also inspired me to do a little updating to the Earwormz playlist, which you can listen to here:

Listen on Apple Music 🎧

1. As someone who worked at Best Buy for a summer, I feel Paul Rudd’s pain. My Michael McDonald DVD was the Eagles’ post-9/11 single, “Hole in the World” that ran on repeat along with all of their usual overplayed dreck. Definitely a formative moment in making me feel the same about the Eagles as The Dude.