“The room was rocking when we wrote this one. Man, the good feelings were everywhere. I remember taking the instrumental track home to listen to after we recorded it. It was a Saturday night, and my family was having a party. I played Love Train for the very first time, and immediately everybody started dancing.

“I had to play it over and over again. People kept dancing and going crazy – unbelievable! I sat there thinking, OK, this is gonna be a big one. [laughs] We put the O’Jays on it, and man, talk about magic.

“Some writers like to wait to get to the chorus, but Gamble and I liked to start right out with it. Why not? You have a hook, you might as well show it off. Me and Mrs Jones, If You Don’t Know Me By Now, Love Train, Back Stabbers – they all start with the hook. A lot of the time, that’s the first thing you write, so it should be the first thing people hear.”

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