There are a lot of Sixties protest songs as we were embroiled in the Vietnam War and people were starting to stand up and make their voices heard in this country. But, I think “People Got to Be Free” could be played today and mean just as much as it meant in 1968.

The Young Rascals had morphed into just The Rascals which were their original name, anyway, and now they had enough star power that Atlantic Records agreed to let them drop the “Young” part of their name. Now they were just The Rascals. They had had eight Top 40 hits before “People Got to Be Free,” including two other number ones, one in 1966 and one in 1967, so they were well established.

Martin Luther King was killed on April 4, 1968 and Bobby Kennedy was killed on June 6, just two months later. Felix Cavaliere was affected deeply about this and, like many of us living in this country then, wondered what was happening to American values. He was finding it difficult to cope with the new reality that existed in our country. So, he sat down with his band mate, Eddie Brigati and wrote “People Got to Be Free.”

Now, this was blatantly a political song and Atlantic Records was reluctant to release it, thinking it might create more protests and more importantly, it might hurt the career of the Rascals, who were doing alright at the moment. But Felix thought it was a message that needed to be said and so, the record was released.

“People Got to Be Free” was the last number one for the Rascals. In fact, it was their last Top 20 hit. They never cracked the Top 20 again. By 1971, Felix Cavaliere had left the group and others soon followed and by 1972, The Rascals were broken up and all going their own way.

While the song is truly a product of the times, I think it’s as relevant today as it was then. People are still fighting to be free and to be treated equally and we still have a long way to go. As someone said, “a song may be dated, but it is never out of date.” That is true of “People Got to Be Free.” By the way, during the song, Felix sings about the “Train of freedom” and the noise he makes right at the end of the song is “chug, chug, chug.” (Just a piece of trivia.)

“People Got to Be Free” entered the pop charts on July 20, 1968, just six weeks after Robert Kennedy’s assassination and stayed at the top for five weeks, making it one of the biggest hits of 1968.