O-o-h Child

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"O-o-h Child"
File:O-o-h Child - Five Stairsteps.jpg
Single by Five Stairsteps
from the album Stairsteps
B-side "Who Do You Belong To"
Released April 1970
Genre Chicago soul
Length 3:11
Label Buddah
Songwriter(s) Stan Vincent
Producer(s) Stan Vincent
Music video
"O-o-h Child" on YouTube

"O-o-h Child" is a 1970 single, written by Stan Vincent, recorded by Chicago soul family group the Five Stairsteps and released on the Buddah label. The Five Stairsteps had previous peripheral success recording in Chicago with Curtis Mayfield;[1] when Mayfield's workload precluded his continuing to work with the group they were reassigned to Stan Vincent, an in-house producer for Buddah Records, who had recently scored a Top Ten hit with the Lou Christie single "I'm Gonna Make You Mine". The Five Stairsteps' debut collaboration with Vincent was originally formatted with the group's rendition of "Dear Prudence" as the A-side with Vincent's original composition "O-o-h Child" as B-side. However, "O-o-h Child" broke out in the key markets of Philadelphia and Detroit to rise as high as #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1970. The track's R&B chart impact was more muted with a #14 peak, although "O-o-h Child" is now regarded as a "soft soul" classic. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 21 song of 1970.

Song information

The Five Stairsteps' only pop Top 40 hit, "O-o-h Child" would be the group's last R&B top 40 hit (they had several top 40 R&B hits in the 1960s) until 1976's "From Us to You". Included on the band's The Stairsteps album from 1970, it has become the Stairsteps' signature song and has inspired more than twenty covers since its release. The song featured various members, including lone female member and eldest sister Alohe, brothers Keni, Dennis, James, lead singer Clarence Burke Jr. singing in various parts of the song.

The lyrics tell the listener that "things are gonna get easier" in times of strife. The song's uplifting message helped it to become popular among pop and rhythm and blues audiences when it was released.

The song is ranked #402 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Critical reception

AllMusic review by Joe Viglione: "Producer Stan Vincent's Top Ten hit for the Stairsteps, "O-o-h Child," was one of those bright, memorable, sterling songs which, as with Alive 'N Kickins "Tighter, Tighter," made the summer of 1970 so memorable."[2]

Personnel

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Musicians

Production

  • Recorded at Allegro Studios
  • Produced, written, arranged, and conducted by Stan Vincent

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[10] Silver 200,000
United States (RIAA)[11] Gold 1,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone
double-daggersales/streaming figures based on certification alone

Cover versions

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In popular culture

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Sampled

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See also

References

  1. "Soul icon Curtis Mayfield dies", BBC News, December 27, 1999: "Credited with introducing social comment to soul music". Retrieved 25 May 2021.
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  6. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, August 1, 1970
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  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter O o h Child in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
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External links