Featuring the falsetto vocals of Earth, Wind & Fire singer Philip Bailey, this popular wedding R&B ballad is actually about a one-night stand: "I'm longing to love you just for a night." "It's funny 'cause people say, 'We played that song at my wedding,' and I'm like, 'Did you listen to the lyrics?'" Bailey told Entertainment Weekly. "The song is talking about a one-night stand. Me and Maurice [White] were talking about the on-the-road life, what was going on at that time being young men. It's totally lust for the moment. It's a screw record."
The That's The Way Of The World album was originally part of a movie of the same name - a low-budget flick about the corruption of the record business starring a young Harvey Keitel. Although the movie flopped, the soundtrack effectively launched the commercial success of Earth, Wind & Fire. A live (and more popular) version of this song is on the Gratitude album, released later in 1975.
Maurice and Verdine White of Earth, Wind & Fire wrote this song with Charles Stepney, who was an arranger/piano player at Chess Records when Maurice worked there as a staff drummer in the '60s. Stepney did a lot of work with Earth, Wind & Fire when the band was starting out, and he did a lot of the writing and production on the That's The Way Of The World project. Stepney had a lot of experience in a studio and helped the young group create a very refined sound. He died of a sudden heart attack in 1976.
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