" I Was Here " was written by Diane Warren and was produced by Ryan Tedder , Brent Kutzle , Beyoncé and Kuk Harrell . " I Was Here " is the only song on the record that was not co-written by Beyoncé . On June 1 , 2011 , Warren revealed in an interview for the '' New York Post '' s PopWrap that she wrote " the best song she has ever written " a week and a half 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 got chills , and 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 . " 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 two octaves from E3 to E5
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
I Was Here (song)