Rich Girl (Hall & Oates song)

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“Rich Girl”
Single by Hall & Oates from the album Bigger Than Both of Us
Released	1977
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1976
Genre	Pop/Rock
Label	RCA
Writer(s)	Daryl Hall
Producer	Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates singles chronology
"Do What You Want, Be What You Are" (1976) "Rich Girl" (1977) "Back Together Again" (1977)

"Rich Girl" is a song by Daryl Hall and John Oates. On March 26th, 1977, it became their first (of six) number one singles on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The single originally appeared on the 1976 album Bigger Than Both of Us.

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.^[1]

Several years later, Hall read an interview with David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam killer, in which Berkowitz claimed that "Rich Girl" had motivated him to murder (though interestingly, the song was not released until after the Son of Sam murders had already begun, casting doubts on that suggestion). Hall & Oates later reflected this disturbing fact in the lyrics of the song "Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear Voices)" on the album Voices.^[2]

"Rich Girl" was covered by Nina Simone on her 1978 LP Baltimore. "Rich Girl" was covered by Everclear on their 2008 CD The Vegas Years.

[edit] References

Preceded by "Love Theme From "A Star is Born" (Evergreen)" by Barbra Streisand

Billboard Hot 100 number one single March 26, 1977

Succeeded by "Dancing Queen" by ABBA