‘Rich Girl’ is a song by Daryl Hall & John Oates. It debuted on the Billboard Top 40 on February 5, 1977, at number 38 and on March 26, 1977, it became their first of six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The single originally appeared on the 1976 album Bigger Than Both of Us. At the end of 1977, Billboard ranked it as the 23rd biggest hit of the year.
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.
Hall elaborated on the song in an interview with American Songwriter: “’Rich Girl’ was written about an old boyfriend of Sara [Allen]'s from college that she was still friends with at the time. His name is Victor Walker. He came to our apartment, and he was acting sort of strange. His father was quite rich. I think he was involved with some kind of a fast-food chain. I said, "This guy is out of his mind, but he doesn't have to worry about it because his father's gonna bail him out of any problems he gets in." So I sat down and wrote that chorus. [Sings] "He can rely on the old man's money/he can rely on the old man's money/he's a rich guy." I thought that didn't sound right, so I changed it to ‘Rich Girl’. He knows the song was written about him.”
Daryl Hall was shocked to find out that the infamous serial killer David "Son Of Sam" Berkowitz claimed he was inspired to murder by this song. It is unlikely that this song actually compelled Berkowitz to kill, as it was released after he started his killing spree, and Berkowitz cited many influences, including his neighbor's dog, when asked why he killed. Nonetheless, it was very disturbing for Hall and Oates to have their song associated with Berkowitz, and they made reference to this in their 1980 song "Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices)" from their Voices album in the lyrics: "Charlie liked The Beatles, Sam he liked Rich Girl."
Label – RCA
Songwriter – Daryl Hall
Producer – Christopher Bond
SONG LYRICS
[Chorus: Daryl Hall]You're a rich girl, and you've gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway
You can rely on the old man's money
You can rely on the old man's money
It's a bitch, girl, but it's gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway
Say money but it won't get you too far
Get you too far
[Verse 1: Daryl Hall & John Oates]
Don't you know? Don't you know?
That it's wrong to take what is given you
So far gone, on your own
You can get along if you try to be strong
But you'll never be strong, 'cause
[Chorus: Daryl Hall & John Oates]
You're a rich girl (Rich girl)
And you've gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway (Rich girl)
You can rely on the old man's money
You can rely on the old man's money
It's a bitch, girl (Bitch, girl), and it's gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway (Rich girl)
Say money but it won't get you too far, get you too far
[Verse 2: Daryl Hall & John Oates]
High and dry, out of the rain
It's so easy to hurt others when you can't feel pain
And don't you know that a love can't grow, ooh
'Cause there's too much to give, 'cause you'd rather live
For the thrill of it all, oh
[Chorus: Daryl Hall & John Oates]
You're a rich girl (Rich girl) and you've gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway (Rich girl)
You can rely on the old man's money
You can rely on the old man's money
It's a bitch, girl (Bitch, girl), and it's gone too far
'Cause you know it don't matter anyway, yeah (Rich girl)
Say money but it won't get you too far
Say money but it won't get you too far
Say money but it won't get you too far, get you too far
And you say, you can rely on your old man's money
You can rely on your old man's money
[Outro: Daryl Hall & John Oates]
You're a rich girl (Rich girl)
A rich girl
Oh, you're a rich bitch girl, yeah (Rich girl)
Say money but it won't get you too far
Won't get you too far