Love You - The Free Design, 1970

 
 

Give a little time for the child within you,
Don't be afraid to be young and free
Undo the locks and throw away the keys
And take off your shoes and socks, and run you
La, la, la...

Give a little time for the child within you
Don't be afraid to be young and free
Undo the locks and throw away the keys
And take off your shoes and socks, and run you
La, la, la...

Run through the meadow and scare up the milking cows
Run down the beach kicking clouds of sand
Walk a windy weather day, feel your face blow away
Stop and listen: Love you

Roll like a circus clown, put away your circus frown
Ride on a roller coaster upside down
Waltzing Matilda, Carey loves a kinkatchoo
Joey catch a kangaroo, hug you

Dandelion, milkweed, silky on a sunny sky
Reach out and hitch a ride and float on by
Balloons down below catching colors of the rainbow
red, blue and yellow-green: I love you

Bicycles, tricycles, ice cream candy
Lollypops, popsicles, licorice sticks
Solomon Grundy, Raggedy Andy
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, home free

Cowboys and Indians, puppy dogs and sand pails
Beachballs and baseballs and basketballs, too
I love forget-me-nots, fluffernutters, sugarpops
I'll hug you and kiss you and love you
La, la, la... Love you... (etc)

 
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Although Love You was recorded in 1970, this group is pure '60s. Classified in rather hard-to-define genres of Sunshine Pop and even Baroque Pop, The Free Design had a solid following from 1967-1972. Although they never made the top of the charts, they were influential in their own way, eventually inspiring bands such as Stereolab and Beck.

The group consisted of five members of same family: Chris, Sandy, Bruce, Ellen and Stephanie Dedrick. Song titles like Bubbles, Kites Are Fun, Love Me and Love You betray an incurable optimism in their music. They employed complex harmonies, counterpoint and varied time signatures, all the influence of the family's classical music training.

In 2000, The Free Design came out of a 28 year retirement to record Endless Harmony for the Beach Boys tribute album, Caroline Now. This led to the release of new material in 2001, and their new-found popularity put them on the sound tracts of Gilmore Girls (2002) and Stranger Than Fiction. (2006)