ago and that Beyoncé had already recorded it for her fourth studio album 4. She described it as "a career song and probably my favorite thing I've ever written". The development of "I Was Here" was motivated by the September 11 attacks. Warren wanted to work with Beyoncé since the Destiny's Child eras, but admitted that "I Was Here" was the ideal timing, "I thought that the one artist who would be my dream to sing ['I Was Here'] would be Beyoncé. This is one of those magical stories where what is meant to be actually happens." In May 2011, Warren played the song on a guitar over the phone to Beyoncé's husband Jay-Z, who then called her. Upon hearing "I Was Here", Beyoncé immediately made up her mind, "Oh my god, I have to have this song." September 2011 was going to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and Beyoncé thought that the song would perfectly complete her album, which had nearly reached completion. The mastering of 4 was delayed to allow Beyoncé to record the song. Warren was present at the recording sessions, which took place two days following her conversation with Beyoncé and Jay-Z on the phone. She said, "There's nothing better than to hear the song that you came up with [sung back]. It's like your heart found another heart", before adding: I've never had chills through my entire body like I had from hearing Beyoncé sing this song. 'I Was Here' came from my soul and became the song that was coming from hers. In all my life, I have never heard anything as amazing as this. Hearing her sing 'I Was Here' will forever be one of the best moments of my life, and I know that this song will touch many other lives as well. Composition "I Was Here" is a downtempo R&B ballad that is instrumentally based on synthesizers undercurrent, indie rock guitars, musical keyboards and big drums provided by Tedder and Kutzle. The sound of the song's recurring hook uses a combination of a xylophone and a piano. According to the sheet music published by Alfred Music Publishing at the website Musicnotes.com, "I Was Here" is written in the key of E minor with a time signature and has a tempo of 37 beats per minute. The song follows a chord progression of Em–C–D–Dsus–Em–C–Em–C, and Beyoncé's vocals span