-(Corey Hart talks about the origin of this music): -"When 'Young Man Running' was released in June of 1988 ... there had been a particularly sensitive theme churning through my creative turnstiles for years, but I was not yet confident enough within myself to set the words free. I obscured the message in one of my new songs behind vague lyrical imagery.
Fast-forward twenty-four years later, when I finally lifted the veil: the song was about the LGBT community. The message was that all human beings are born free and equal - the dignified birthright of all peoples, in all countries.
Out of the blue, in late 2011, something quite magical transpired when I received an unsolicited request via email from a DJ in Kingston, Ontario named Paul Todd.
Paul's steady job was driving the night shift in a taxi cab. He was writing to ask for legal approval to sample my original vocal of "Truth Will Set You Free."
"It has always been my favorite Corey Hart song," Paul wrote. "It portrays my life with its message of being true to yourself as the key to happiness. Throughout my life, I've had more hardships than I can fathom. I found refuge in music with songs that made my heart come alive. Growing up real poor in the slums of Toronto, I struggled to fit in.
"We moved from place to place," Todd continued. "Music was always there for me."
Despite the odds stacked against Mr. Todd's one-in-a-million shot (I am notoriously protective of my music), I embraced it.
Now I was given the chance to add a more sanguine section in the song; a chance to pay respect to Matthew Shepard's story. The original 1988 version of "Truth Will Set You Free" metamorphosed into a completely reinvigorated musical incarnation in 2012. But this time, the message was not camouflaged or subliminally subtle. It was sung transparently about compassion and empowerment for those who face the stigma or prejudice for simply being who they are and loving whom they choose. Sexuality is human. Intolerance and prejudice is inhuman.".