Set Me Free (The Kinks song)

{{More citations needed|date=October 2018}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Set Me Free

| cover = Set Me Free Kinks cover.jpg

| caption = Dutch picture sleeve

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = the Kinks

| album = Kinda Kinks (US edition)

| B-side = I Need You

| released = 21 May 1965

| recorded = 13–14 April 1965{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=56}}

| studio = Pye, London

| venue =

| genre = *Pop{{sfn|Turner|2003|p=560}}

• R&B{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=56}}

| length = 2:12

| label = *Pye (UK)

• Reprise (US)

| writer = Ray Davies

| producer = Shel Talmy

| chronology = The Kinks UK

| prev_title = Ev'rybody's Gonna Be Happy

| prev_year = 1965

| next_title = See My Friends

| next_year = 1965

| misc = {{Extra chronology

| artist = The Kinks US singles

| type = single

| prev_title = Tired of Waiting for You

| prev_year = 1965

| title = Set Me Free

| year = 1965

| next_title = Who'll Be the Next in Line

| next_year = 1965

}}

}}

"Set Me Free" is a song by Ray Davies, released first by the Kinks in 1965. Along with "Tired of Waiting for You", it is one of band's first attempts at a softer, more introspective sound. The song's B-side, "I Need You", makes prominent use of powerchords in the style of the Kinks' early, "raunchy" sound. "Set Me Free" was heard in the Ken Loach-directed Up the Junction, a BBC Wednesday Play which aired in November 1965; this marked the first appearance of a Kinks song on a film or TV soundtrack.

Billboard said of the single that "hot on the heels of [the Kinks'] 'Tired of Waiting for You' smash comes this down home blues rhythm material with a good teen lyric."{{cite news|newspaper=Billboard|accessdate=2021-03-12|date=June 5, 1965|page=35|title=Singles Reviews|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1965/Billboard%201965-06-05.pdf}} Cash Box described it as "a snappy tune that’s taken for an engaging disk ride."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=June 5, 1965 |page=12 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1965/CB-1965-06-05.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}

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