You can rely on the old man’s money

"Rich Girl" is a song by popular music duo Hall & Oates, made up of Daryl Hall and John Oates, who specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles which they dubbed "Rock and Soul”, and whom achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. On March 26th, 1977, Rich Girl 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 woman who can rely on her parents' money to do whatever she wants. The song was rumoured 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.

Rich Girl was also covered by Nina Simone on her 1978 LP Baltimore. Naturally.

See you backstage this Wednesday at Tuck Shop from 8.30 pm.