"Rich Girl" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Daryl Hall & John Oates | ||||
from the album Bigger Than Both of Us | ||||
B-side | "London, Luck and Love" | |||
Released | January 1977 | |||
Recorded | 1976 | |||
Studio | Cherokee, Hollywood, California [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:23 | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Daryl Hall | |||
Producer(s) | Christopher Bond | |||
Daryl Hall & John Oates singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio | ||||
"Rich Girl" on YouTube |
"Rich Girl" is a song by Daryl Hall & John Oates. It debuted on the Billboard Top 40 on February 5, 1977, at number 38 and on March 26, 1977, it became their first of six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The single originally appeared on the 1976 album Bigger Than Both of Us . At the end of 1977, Billboard ranked it as the 23rd biggest hit of the year.
The song's lyrics are about a spoiled girl who can rely on her parents' money to do whatever she wants. The song was rumored to be about the then-scandalous newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. In fact, the title character in the song is based on a spoiled heir to a fast-food chain who was an ex-boyfriend of Daryl Hall's girlfriend, Sara Allen. "But you can't write, 'You're a rich boy' in a song, so I changed it to a girl," Hall told Rolling Stone . [5]
Hall elaborated on the song in an interview with American Songwriter:
"Rich Girl" was written about an old boyfriend of Sara [Allen]'s from college that she was still friends with at the time. His name is Victor Walker. He came to our apartment, and he was acting sort of strange. His father was quite rich. I think he was involved with some kind of a fast-food chain. I said, "This guy is out of his mind, but he doesn't have to worry about it because his father's gonna bail him out of any problems he gets in." So I sat down and wrote that chorus. [Sings] "He can rely on the old man's money/he can rely on the old man's money/he's a rich guy." I thought that didn't sound right, so I changed it to "Rich Girl". He knows the song was written about him. [6]
Several years later, Hall read an interview with serial killer David Berkowitz, in which he claimed that "Rich Girl" had motivated him to commit the notorious "Son of Sam" murders [7] (although the song was not released until after the Son of Sam murders had already begun, casting doubts on that suggestion). [8] Hall & Oates later reflected this disturbing fact in the lyrics of the song "Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices)" on the album Voices . [5]
Cash Box wrote that it is "an upbeat, foot-tapping number with a lyric line that really catches on." [9]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [21] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [22] | 3× Platinum | 90,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [23] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [24] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
"Rich Girl" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Selwyn | ||||
from the album Meant to Be | ||||
B-side | "Way Love's Supposed to Be" | |||
Released | August 5, 2002 [25] | |||
Length | 3:56 | |||
Label | Epic | |||
Songwriter(s) | Daryl Hall | |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Selwyn singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio | ||||
"Rich Girl" (Single Mix) on YouTube |
Australian R&B singer Selwyn covered "Rich Girl" in 2002. This version discards the second verse but contains two new verses and retains the original chorus. It was included on Selwyn's 2002 debut album, Meant to Be , and released as a single on August 5, 2002. It became a hit in Australia and New Zealand, peaking at number nine in the former country and number 20 in the latter; it is his highest-charting single in both nations. In Australia, it was certified gold and was the 50th-most-successful single of 2002.
Australian maxi-CD [26]
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [31] | Gold | 35,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [32] | 2× Platinum | 60,000‡ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily played the electric guitar and provided backing vocals. The two wrote most of the songs they performed, either separately or in collaboration. They achieved their greatest fame from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s with a fusion of rock and roll, soul music, and rhythm and blues.
Daryl Franklin Hohl, known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Hall & Oates, with guitarist and songwriter John Oates. Outside of his work in Hall & Oates, he has also released six solo albums, including the 1980 progressive rock collaboration with guitarist Robert Fripp titled Sacred Songs and the 1986 album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, which provided his best selling single, "Dreamtime", that peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also collaborated on numerous works by other artists, such as Fripp's 1979 release Exposure, and Dusty Springfield's 1995 album A Very Fine Love, which produced a UK Top 40 hit with "Wherever Would I Be". Since late 2007, he has hosted the streaming television series Live from Daryl's House, in which he performs alongside other artists, doing a mix of songs from each's catalog. The show has been rebroadcast on a number of cable and satellite channels as well.
"Adult Education" is a song by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, released as a single in February 1984. The song was featured on the duo's second compilation album Rock 'n Soul Part 1 and was one of two new tracks that were recorded specifically for the compilation release. The single hit number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Three Times a Lady" is a 1978 song by American soul group Commodores for their album Natural High, written by lead singer Lionel Richie. It was produced by James Anthony Carmichael and Commodores.
"Kiss on My List" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates. It was written by Daryl Hall and Janna Allen, and produced by Hall and John Oates. It was the third single release from their ninth studio album, Voices (1980), and became their second US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single. It spent three weeks at the top spot.
"Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then, and is generally considered Helms' signature song. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe, although both Helms and session guitarist on the song Hank Garland disputed this. Beal was a Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was an American writer in the advertising business.
"Electric Blue" is a song by Australian rock band Icehouse. It was co-written by Iva Davies of Icehouse and John Oates of US band Hall & Oates. Oates became involved with Davies after contacting him to state he was a fan. The resulting collaboration produced this song and Oates has stated that if Davies had not released the song under the Icehouse name, then it would have been a Hall & Oates track.
"Everytime You Go Away" is a song written by American musician Daryl Hall. It was first recorded in 1980 by his duo Hall & Oates but was not released as a single. A cover version of the song by Paul Young became an international hit in 1985, reaching No. 1 in the US and No. 4 in the UK.
"Maneater" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates, featured on their eleventh studio album, H2O (1982). It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 18, 1982. It remained in the top spot for four weeks, longer than any of the duo's five other number-one hits, including "Kiss on My List", which remained in the top spot for three weeks.
"Out of Touch" is a song by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates from their twelfth studio album Big Bam Boom (1984). The song was released as the lead single from Big Bam Boom on Thursday, October 4, 1984, by RCA Records. This song was their last Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, topping the chart for two weeks in December 1984. It also became the duo's fourteenth consecutive top 40 hit since 1980.
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is a song by American duo Hall & Oates. Written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, the song was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, Private Eyes (1981). The song became the fourth number one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100. It features Charles DeChant on saxophone.
American musical duo Hall & Oates has released 18 studio albums and 63 singles. The duo has had eight albums certified platinum and an additional six albums certified gold by the RIAA. They have also had six singles certified gold. Certifications have totaled 14 million albums and six million singles.
Private Eyes is the tenth studio album by American pop rock duo Hall & Oates, released on September 1, 1981, by RCA Records. The album includes two number-one singles—the title track and "I Can't Go for That ", as well as the top-10 single "Did It in a Minute". "I Can't Go for That " also spent a week at the top of the R&B chart.
"Love Train" is a hit single by the O'Jays, written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Released in 1972, it reached No. 1 on both the R&B Singles and the Billboard Hot 100 in February and March 1973 respectively, and No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart and was certified gold by the RIAA. It was the O'Jays' first and only number one record on the US pop chart. The song has been considered one of the first songs of disco music.
Rock 'n Soul Part 1 is a greatest hits album by American musical duo Hall & Oates, credited as "Daryl Hall John Oates" on the album cover. Released by RCA Records on October 18, 1983, the album featured mostly hit singles recorded by the duo and released by RCA, along with one single from the duo's period with Atlantic Records and two previously unreleased songs recorded earlier in the year: "Say It Isn't So" and "Adult Education".
"Sara Smile" is a song written and recorded by the American musical duo Hall & Oates. It was released as the third single from their album Daryl Hall & John Oates. The song was the group's first top 40 and first top ten hit in the US, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Private Eyes" is a 1981 single by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates and the title track from their album of the same name. The song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts for two weeks, from November 7 through November 20, 1981. This single was the band's third of six number one hits, and their second number one hit of the 1980s. It was succeeded in the number one position by Olivia Newton-John's "Physical," which was coincidentally succeeded by another single from Hall & Oates, "I Can't Go for That ".
"Method of Modern Love" is a song by the American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. It was released as the second single from their 1984 album, Big Bam Boom. The song reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1985.
"You Make My Dreams" is a song by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, taken from their ninth studio album, Voices (1980). The song reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1981. The track received 154,000 digital sales between 2008 and 2009 according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Voices is the ninth studio album by American pop rock duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. The album was released on July 29, 1980, by RCA Records. It spent 100 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 17. In 2020, the album was ranked number 80 on The Greatest 80 Albums of 1980 by Rolling Stone magazine.