Give the People What They Want (The O'Jays song)

"Give the People What They Want"
Single by The O'Jays
from the album Survival
B-side	"What Am I Waiting For"
Released	1975
Genre	R&B, Philly Soul
Length	4:11
Label	Philadelphia International
Writer(s)	Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff
Producer(s)	Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff
The O'Jays singles chronology
"Sunshine (Pt. 2)" (1974) "Give the People What They Want" (1975) "Let Me Make Love to You" (1975)

"Give the People What They Want" is a song by R&B vocal group The O'Jays. Released from their album, Survival, it spent one week at number one on the R&B singles chart in the summer of 1975. It was also peaked at number forty-five on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1]

It was used as part of the regular playlist at campaign events for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential candidacy.^[2]

The O'Jays song is currently being used by NBC's WCAU-TV-10 to promote the station's news and other programing.^[3] The song's chorus plays with no other voice-over, along with clips of action in the streets, and station on-air staff with slogans promoting programming. The campaign debuted 12 February 2010, including one clip of "Jay Leno at 11:35", after The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien was off the air.

This song is heavily sampled in EPMD's song "Give the People" from their 1990 album Business as Usual.

The song is used as the intro theme music for former NBA player Jalen Rose's podcast, The Jalen Rose Report, for Grantland. The phrase has become Rose's unofficial catchphrase.

Chart positions

Charts	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	45
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles	1

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 438.
2. Hewitt, Gavin (2008-10-29). "The songs - and the candidate - remain the same". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-10-29.
3. "Got to Give the People...". WCAU. Retrieved 2020-05-10. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

External links

• Song review on Allmusic
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics