"O-o-h Child" - The Five Stairsteps

[ClassicCase]

#8/Pop; #1 R&B/Soul

This is the original that's been re-made, re-sampled, re-elemented and recyled many times. (I was only 4 when it came out and it was quite an encouragement for me then). However, that wasn't a one-hit wonder. They later evolved as The Invisible Man's Band and churned out another R&B/funk classic from 1978 All Night Thang. Recollections are welcome.

[FreakyFlyBry]

Not really a big fan of this one.

[jimmy74747]

I first heard this watching "Boyz N The Hood". Its very good. Dino's remake was awful.

[Deleted]

It's not a bad song, but I've never been a fan of it.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Is this the same song that Janet samples on her 'All For You' CD, and the same song that appears as a cover on Peace Songs?

[Deleted]

The said:

Is this the same song that Janet samples on her 'All For You' CD, and the same song that appears as a cover on Peace Songs?

yes

[Gorminako]

I like this song a lot. A huge hit. They put out a lot of songs, but few people would be familiar with any of their other songs. They had 17 more songs that made Billboard's Hot 100, yet no other that made the Top 40.

[velcro]

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. It's timeless, imo.

[mst3k]

Classic track!!

Also sampled in "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2Pac.

[The Rebirth Of ffej]

Awesome song. I found by a remake done by Dusty Springfield, which was unreleased. CLASSIC

[Me. I Am Justin...]

I like it, but not as much as some of their other singles like "Don't Change Your Love" & "World Of Fantasy".

[sirkaliber]

Hot said:

I like it, but not as much as some of their other singles like "Don't Change Your Love" & "World Of Fantasy".

I love this song as well as their obscure classics We Must Be in Love(nice simplistic lyrics and melody), Don't Change Your Love, World of Fantasy, Playgirl's Love, The Look of Love, Stay Close to Me, and One in a Million. Damn, i thought I was like the only one listening to them! Good to see I'm not.

[joker]

mst3k1 said:

Classic track!!

Also sampled in "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2Pac.

That's how I was introduced to the song, nice song.

[rr1981]

Beautiful song. Classic. Love the lyrics. I think it was used in the movie "Crooklyn" as well, which, BTW, I used to think was a real place.

[Live Your Life]

Love this song. A classic indeed.

[Deleted]

#132 on Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 1970's

As far back as 1966, before the Jackson 5 had even left Indiana, Chicago’s musical family the Five Stairsteps had scored sizable R&B hits under the direction of patriarch Clarence Burke, the group’s original bassist/co-writer/manager and also a detective for the Chicago Police Department. Though they upped their cuteness factor in the early days by adding three-year-old sibling Cubie, their breakthrough moment remained elusive until 1970, when DJs flipped their cover of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” in favor of a song that became R&B’s answer to “Over the Rainbow.”

Written and produced by Stan Vincent, a Buddah Records staffer who’d previously scored with Connie Francis and Lou Christie, “O-o-h Child” achieves its extraordinary uplifting effect by starting with the chorus and adding multiple key changes to create a funky, sunshine gospel song about hope. Alohe Burke’s sultry alto anchors the song, and though the childlike voices of brothers Clarence Jr., James, Denis, and Keni are individually unremarkable, together they are utterly disarming, and they all come together for one of pop’s most affecting climaxes. It’s as if the dreams and gains of the civil rights movement got condensed into three minutes of radiant joy. –Barry Walters

[Deleted]

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

I really like this one. Classic.

Janet had introduced me to this song, lol

[Soulsista]

Great song.

Peaked at #14 on the R&B chart.

[disman00911]

My earliest memory of this song is through 2pac's "Keep Ur Head Up", which replayed the main chorus of this song.   One of those 1960s/1970s R&B/soul records that still remembered today.