Music of the Day, 21 April 2025

still long overdue

The enduring, growing protests in the United States and abroad have shifted the tuning of the radio station in my mind a bit. I woke up with what I thought was the title of today’s MotD in my head, but it wasn’t quite right. More searching than I expected was required in part because of that, and also because the band was known by two names.

Once I found it, I was certain I’d feature it today, but I thought I might need to cavil about a couple of lines. One listen and that concern evaporated. Seven-year-old Jackie was back and fervently wanting the message to be grokked far and wide.

“People Got to Be Free” was the Rascals’ biggest hit, holding the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five weeks that summer and coming in at number five on that chart for the year. It was included on the band’s 1969 double album, Freedom Suite.

While trying to learn whom to credit for the tasty baritone sax riff,¹ I noticed that Arif Mardin got a producer credit for both the song and the album. I’m familiar with him primarily via his work with the Bee Gees, so that was a pleasant surprise—and it became a throughline when I read his Wiki page and saw its list of credits in the second paragraph. What a talented person! Mardin also released three solo albums; you know I’ll be exploring them as soon as I can.

It’s possible that the music of the ‘60s and ‘70s influenced me more than I’ve realized. It feels good to reclaim some of that optimism today. I was too young to protest back then² and may not be able to protest in person now as often as I’d like. Thanks to knitter in Norway tynn_traad, I was represented though … in Lego. In addition to her Instragram (linked above), here’s a collection of Google photos from yesterday’s protest³ … anyone want to guess which one is me?

I don’t remember disliking any Rascals song I’ve heard, so I’m looking forward to ticking a few more things off my list so I can listen to the only album of theirs I have: the 1986 compilation The Ultimate Rascals. “Chug, chug, chug!”⁴

1. AllMusic’s credits seem most complete but don’t include a bari sax credit … and that sure doesn’t sound like a tenor sax to me

2. and don’t remember if there were protests near my hometown

3. yes, she staged a similar Lego protest for April 5, and will likely keep doing them, as there have been no physical protests near her

4. that’s the train, not booze!