Young Hearts Run Free

"Young Hearts Run Free" was written by its producer David Crawford. According to Staton, the song's genesis was a conversation she had with Crawford over lunch in Los Angeles: Staton – "Dave Crawford was always asking me: 'What's happening in your life'...and I was [then] with someone I shouldn't have been with and it was hard getting out of that...very abusive relationship"[1]..."I [noticed] that [Crawford] was taking notes, and he said, 'You know, I'm gonna write you a song. I'm gonna write you a song that's gonna last forever.'"[2]

Released in 1976 from the album of the same title, it spent a week at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It also peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[3] Along with the tracks "Run to Me" and "Destiny", "Young Hearts Run Free" went to number eight on the dance/disco charts.[4] "Young Hearts Run Free" was one of only two songs by Staton to reach the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number two behind The Real Thing's "You to Me Are Everything".[5] The 1976 single releases had "I Know" on the B-side.

The song is referenced in Staton's 1978 single "Victim" in the lyrics, "I became a victim of the very song I sing, I told you "young hearts run free". When I didn't listen to myself . . ."[6]

In 1999 Candi Staton recorded a new dance version of "Young Hearts Run Free". It peaked at #29 in the UK.

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[12]	Gold	400,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

American singer Gloria Estefan covered the song in 2005 for the series Desperate Housewives on the Music from and Inspired by Desperate Housewives album. UK singer Sonia included a version on her 1993 album Better the Devil You Know. British band Easyworld released a version as a B-side to the single "How Did It Ever Come to This?" in 2004. The Swell Season did a version of the song for Levi's Pioneer Sessions 2010 Revival Recordings. Jully Black also did a cover of the song. This song was almost covered by Mikalah Gordon on the fourth installment of American Idol. German singer Lian Ross recorded this song in 2009, and it was a number 1 radio-hit in Spain; then she re-recorded and featured this one on her album "I Got the Beat" (2013). In 2008, the song was also featured in the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony on the in-game radio station K109 The Studio. In 2017, Canadian singer Ralph released a cover of the song as a promotional single. Beth Ditto covered it on the Jools Holland Hootenanny TV program on BBC Two, 1 January 2018.

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