Barbara Mason wrote this song, which captured the innocent stirrings of adolescence, at the age of 18.
Mason told Mojo magazine October 2008 that this was inspired by the sounds coming out of Chicago, particularly Curtis Mayfleld. She explained: "I was a huge Curtis Mayfield fan, and I heard a record he had produced; Major Lance's 'The Monkey Time' and he sings, 'Are you ready?' and I just thought, there's my record. It only took me 10 minutes to write, and then we recorded it live in one take."
With its use of sweet, sweeping strings and musicians who would go on to form the nucleus of the Philadelphia record label's house band MFSB, this song is considered by many to be the first record to have the Philadelphia sound. The Philadelphia soul sound was popular throughout the 1970s and laid the foundations for other genres such as urban contemporary music later on. Check out "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB featuring The Three Degrees, "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, "Back Stabbers" by The O'Jays and "You Make Me Feel Brand New by the Stylistics for examples of Philly soul.
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