O-o-h Child

"O-o-h Child" is a 1970 single 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; 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.

"O-o-h Child"
Single by Five Stairsteps
from the album Stairsteps
B-side"Who Do You Belong To"
ReleasedApril 1970
GenreChicago soul
Length3:11
LabelBuddah
Songwriter(s)Stan Vincent
Producer(s)Stan Vincent
Music video
"O-o-h Child" (audio only) on YouTube

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."[1]

Personnel

The Five Stairsteps

Clarence Burke Jr., Keni Burke, Alohe Burke Dennis Burke, James Burke,

Production

Produced, arranged and conducted by Stan Vincent

Chart performance

Cover versions
  • In the 1979 film Over the Edge, the closing scene (while the prison bus drives away) is underscored by the Valerie Carter version.
  • "O-o-h Child" was featured prominently in a notable scene of the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, directed by Academy Award nominee John Singleton, when Doughboy and Chris are witnessed being arrested by Tre and Furious.
  • The song is played in the 1994 film Crooklyn when the main character Troy Carmichael attends the funeral of her mother with the entire family.
  • The Beastie Boys song "Intergalactic" contain the lyrics "It always brings me back when I hear O-o-h Child".
  • In the 2000 film Our Song, "O-o-h Child" is the song referred to in the title.
  • In a 2000 episode of Boy Meets World entitled "Angela's Ashes" Eric sings the refrain to Angela.
  • The 2004 animated film Shark Tale played the song during Oscar's flashback sequence about his father.
  • In a 2005 Episode of TV series Judging Amy entitled "You Don't Know Me" (Season 6, Episode 12).
  • In the film Bridge to Terabithia, music teacher Ms. Edmunds sings the song accompanied by her class.
  • In the TV show How I Met Your Mother, Season 3, episode 11, "The Platinum Rule".
  • In 2011 a few lines of the song were sung in the US Sitcom Mike & Molly (Season 2 Episode 12).
  • In December 5, 2011, "O-o-h Child" was covered in a cappella by Sing-Off Season 2 champion Committed and Season 3 Runner-Up Afro-Blue in the show's Sing-Off Christmas.
  • In TV show The Bernie Mac Show, Season 1, episode 1, "Pilot".
  • In A Tree Grows in Springfield, the sixth episode of season 24 of The Simpsons
  • In "The Devil in the Dark", the third episode of season 1 of Defiance, performed by Raya Yarbrough.
  • In Grand Theft Auto V on the in-game radio station The Lowdown 91.1.
  • In the third episode of season 1 of the SyFy series Defiance, originally aired April 29, 2013, the song underscores the final scenes.
  • In Saturday Night Live Season 39 episode 15, a GPS navigation device keeps interrupting Lena Dunham during a car sing-along of the song.[11]
  • In the 2014 Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy, the hero Peter Quill sings and dances to the song while distracting Ronan the Accuser.
  • In the TV Show Scandal (TV series), Season 4, episode 15 "The Testimony of Diego Muñoz".
  • In the TV show CSI: NY, Season 6, Episode 21 "Unusual Suspects".
  • In the TV show iZombie, the song plays on the radio during season 2, episode 19 "Salivation Army".
  • In episode 8 of the TV miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Johnnie Cochran (played by Courtney B. Vance) sings the first verses of the song while celebrating a courtroom victory.
  • It was heard, in edited form, during the pregame show of Super Bowl LI on February 5, 2017, in a film about college football players from HBCUs who have been inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
  • The song was part of the 'Love Over Bias' campaign for Procter & Gamble advertised globally during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Sampled
  • The song is sampled throughout the 1993 song "Getting Brighter" by the Dynamic Twins.
  • The song's chorus is used in the 1993 2Pac song "Keep Ya Head Up".
  • R. Kelly quoted the song on the remix of the 1994 hit "Bump n' Grind".
  • It is sampled in UK grime artist Shystie's song "Somedayz" from the album Diamond in the Dirt.
  • Janet Jackson interpolated this song on her 2001 song "Truth".
  • Joe used this in the intro of his 2001 song "Better Days".
  • It is sampled in UK grime artist Bashy's 2007 song "Black Boys".
  • Hi-Rez interpolated this song on his 2011 song "Ooh Child".
  • The song's chorus was used by rapper Z-Ro in the song "Lord Tell Me Why," on his 1998 debut album Look What You Did to Me. He used the chorus again in 2000, on the song "Gonna Get Easier."
  • In January 2017 the hook from the song was sampled for the song "Hurricane Of Diamonds" released by Psychopathic Records featuring Insane Clown Posse, Anybody Killa, Big Hoodoo, DJ Clay, Blahzay Roze and Lyte.
  • The song is the featured in the 2008 song "Things are Gonna Get Easier" by Low Motion Disco.
  • The song is sampled in the 2018 song "Black Child" by Australian rapper Birdz.
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See also

References
  1. "O-O-H Child - The Stairsteps | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  2. Canada Library and Archives (17 July 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly".
  3. "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  4. "O-o-h Child (song by The Five Stairsteps) ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". www.musicvf.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  5. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, August 1, 1970
  6. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  7. "Top 100 Hits of 1970/Top 100 Songs of 1970". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
  8. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1970". Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  9. "Bear McCreary – Official site". 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2014.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  10. "The Devil In The Dark - Defiance Wiki". En.defiance-wiki.com. 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  11. "Watch Saturday Night Live: Ooh Child Online". Hulu.com. Retrieved 2015-04-08.

The Five Stairsteps, 'O-o-h Child' - 500 GREATEST SONGS OF ALL TIME

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