The Chi-Lites are an R&B/soul vocal quartet from Chicago, Illinois.
In 1971, following in the footsteps of Sly & the Family Stone and Curtis Mayfield, the Chi-Lites released their most political album to date: "(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People." Eugene Record wrote most of the songs featured on the album. Of the title track, which is featured here, Record said the following: "When something is wrong it's wrong. And if you haven't seen anything to make it right you have to continue with your feelings. We travel about a lot and there's a lot of things we see that don't look good. This is about the only way we can try and set them right; by bringing people's attention to them."
For God's sake, you got to give more power to the people There's some people up there hoggin' everything Tellin' lies, givin' alibis about the people's money and things And if they gonna throw it away, might as well give some to me Yeah they seen and heard it, but never had misery There are some people who are starvin' to death Never knew but only hate us [?], and they never had happiness Oh, oh, oh, if you don't have enough to eat, how can you think of love You don't have the time to care so it's crime you're guilty of, oh yeah For God's sake, you got to give more power to the people For God's sake, why don't you give more power to the people Cut this jive and see who's got the power to kill the most When they run out of power, the world's gonna be a ghost They know we're not satisfied, so we begin to holler Makin' us a promise and throwin' a few more dollars There's no price for happiness, there's no price for love Up goes the price of livin', and you're right back where you was So whatever you got, just be glad you got it Now we're gonna get on up and get some more of it