The sixth and final Rascals/Young Rascals number one is here but "People Got to Be Free" was just the third (and, again, final) chart topper for them in the United States. While "Groovin'" and "Good Lovin'" had both gone to the top off the Hot 100 back in 1966 and '67 respectively, Americans weren't quite as taken by many of their follow ups. Sure, "A Girl Like You", "How Can I Be Sure" and "A Beautiful Morning" gave them sizable Top 10 hits Stateside but none of them could quite get them over the top they way had up north. While the first two aren't especially strong, "A Beautiful Morning" was unlucky to be fighting for chart positions with both Archie Bell and the Drells' "Tighten Up" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson".
Things were no easier for The Rascals as the summer of '68 began to wind down. The week they began their impressive five week stay at the top of the Hot 100 they were joined in the top five by The Doors' "Hello, I Love You" (the previous number one in both the US and Canada), Mason Williams' "Classical Gas", Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" and José Feliciano's cover of The Doors hit "Light My Fire. (All but "Classical Gas" would reach the top on the RPM hit parade at some point) A mostly strong fab five if you ask me. Yet, "People Got to Be Free" is but the fourth best of the bunch. What gives?
The blunt and obvious answer is that the American public are morons but they've done many stupider things than backing what is a very adequate Rascals single over a pop-rock hit they were probably sick of, a stellar folk instrumental and a hard rock classic. (They were right not to go too nuts on Feliciano's elevator muzak take on "Light My Fire" which, I'm sorry to say, I will have to dive deeper into very soon) Really, though, they were taken by the call-to-arms spirit of the sixties in the wake of the assassinations of both Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy.
Oh Paul, shut the fuck up. I mean, Americans (and, for one week at any rate, Canadians) probably were suckered in by all this bullshit but The Rascals hardly went out of their way to cater to the times. The tune is one of their less inspired grooves, the lyrics are trite, the band is sluggishly gutting their way through the damn thing. In a way, I can't blame them. It's probably what I would have done had I been around back then and had possessed a significant level of talent and had been a hard worker and had loads of other things going for me. It plainly doesn't hold up alongside "Groovin'", "Good Lovin'" and "A Beautiful Morning" and is more in the company of "A Girl Like You" and "How Can I Be Sure". There's nothing really wrong with it but there's no real reason to go back to it — unless you need reminding of the bloody obvious.
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