Free Love

Title a song "Free Love" and, hey, it's a no-brainer; a term that sprang from the sexual revolution of the '60s, just write about the seemingly great bunch of goodies you get when you share a bed with someone whom you might know their first name. What a bold choice the songwriting/production duo of Gamble & Huff made when they chose to go another route. As Jean Carn's debut single for their Philadelphia International label, the chugging "Free Love" was a tasty, tuneful harbinger for what unfortunate consequences can come about when you give it up too "freely." Gamble & Huff's choice is even more refreshing considering that it was "the swinging '70s," an era when such dalliances were thought of as commonly potentially deadly; that would change in the next decade. As the lead single from her Jean Carn album and arranged by Bobby Martin, "Free Love" went to number 23 R&B in the spring of 1977. Another Philly soul favorite along the same lines was First Choice's "Smarty Pants."