(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People

Album: (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People (1971)
Charted: 32 26
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was written by Chi-Lites lead vocalist Eugene Record, who said of this song in a 1971 interview with Disc and Music Echo: "When something is wrong it's wrong. And if you haven't seen anything to make it right you have to continue with your feelings. We travel about a lot and there's a lot of things we see that don't look good. This is about the only way we can try and set them right; by bringing people's attention to them." (This interview is available at Rock's Backpages.)
  • Chi-Lites bass singer Creadel "Red" Jones gets a prominent vocal on this track, punctuating Record's lead.
  • John Lennon's "Power to the People" was a hit shortly before this song cracked the charts.
  • Like The Temptations, The Chi-Lites specialized in songs about love and heartbreak, but did release an occasional political song like this one. Eugene Record explained: "I don't want to get involved in this militant thing. I believe in what I'm doing but I don't want to get any deeper involved. The songs are really what I feel; I don't go into it to intentionally get involved. From now on I'm just going to write and use my common sense and if it touches on a political thing then I won't go too far with it. If you go too far it can hurt you, at least as far as records go, because if you get down to saying things that are really truthful some people don't want to accept the truth and will back away or stand in your way to slow you down."

Comments: 1

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 4th 1971, "(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People"" by the Chi-Lites entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 at position #76; seven weeks later on May 23rd, 1971 it peaked at #26 {for 2 weeks} and spent 11 weeks on the Top 100...
    It reached #4 on the Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    Between 1969 and 1998 the Chi-Town quartet had forty-one hits on the R&B Singles chart; twelve made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, "Have You Seen Her" for 2 weeks in 1971 and "Oh Girl" for 2 weeks in 1972...
    They just missed have a third #1 record when "Stoned Out of Mind" peaked at #2* in 1973...
    R.I.P. lead singer Eugene Record {1940 - 2005}...
    * The week "Stoned Out of Mind" was at #2 on the R&B Singles chart, the #1 record for that week was "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Petula Clark

Petula ClarkSongwriter Interviews

Petula talks about her hits "Downtown" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway," and explains her Michael Jackson connection.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jon Anderson

Jon AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Jon Anderson breaks down the Yes classic "Seen All Good People" and talks about his 1000 Hands album, which features Chick Corea, Rick Derringer, Ian Anderson, and many other luminaries.

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger

Kelly Keagy of Night RangerSongwriter Interviews

Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.

Kristian Bush of Sugarland

Kristian Bush of SugarlandSongwriter Interviews

Kristian talks songwriting technique, like how the chorus should redefine the story, and how to write a song backwards.