People Got to Be Free

About People Got to Be Free

"People Got to Be Free" is a song released in 1968 by The Rascals. Written by group members Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati and featuring a lead vocal from Cavaliere, it is a musically upbeat but impassioned plea for tolerance and freedom: All the world over, so easy to see! People everywhere, just wanna be free. Listen, please listen! that's the way it should be Peace in the valley, people got to be free. In the song's coda, Felix says in a half-sung, half-spoken voice, that the "Train of Freedom", is "about to arrive any minute now", that "it has been long, long overdue", and that it's "coming right on through", before the song's fade with Felix saying "Chug" repeatedly. It became a big hit in the turbulent summer of 1968, spending five weeks atop the Billboard Pop Singles chart, the group's longest such stay. It was also the group's second-most successful single on the Billboard Black Singles chart, reaching number 14 and trailing only the previous year's "Groovin'". "People Got to Be Free" was RIAA-certified as a gold record on August 23, 1968, and eventually sold over 4 million copies. It later was included on the group's March 1969 album Freedom Suite. Billboard ranked the record as the number 5 song for 1968. The single's picture sleeve photo was previously featured in the inner album cover of the Rascals' Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits compilation. The B-side, "My World", was a track from the group's Once Upon a Dream album. more »