That’s the Way of the World (1975)

Performer: Earth, Wind & Fire                              Writers: Maurice White & Charles Stepney
Highest US Chart Position: #12                            Label: Columbia Records
Musicians: Maurice White, Larry Dunn, Al McKay, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson

The summer of 1975 was one of mixed emotions for me. For one thing, that’s when I found out from my mom that my dad had cancer, and that he would possibly have only a few weeks to live. Most of that time between seventh and eighth grade was spent and my paternal grandmother’s house, but for a few weeks my brother and sisters and I went with mom to the university hospital a hundred and fifty miles away from home to stay with her at the apartment of one of Dad’s best friends--who had also been my grade school principal for a few years. Talk about weird. At the same time, that was also the summer I came alive to popular music. I had received my first radio-cassette deck for my birthday and spent hours recording songs off the local radio station. In addition, during the time we were up at the hospital, I can remember looking through the record collection next to the stereo, or sleeping in the front room of the apartment with my head on the pillow listening to the music of the radio coming softly out of the huge speakers in the front room. And Earth, Wind and Fire’s “That’s the Way of the World” is one of the songs I remember most from that time.

The song begins with a soft, syncopated eight-note pattern by Larry Dunn on the electric piano, and Verdine White’s bass playing a sort of pick-up and hold line. Similarly soft drums and percussion by Fred White and Ralph Johnson, heavy on the back beat, supports Andrew Woolfolk’s saxophone playing along with a primarily brass studio horn section. When the vocals enter it sounds as if it’s as many as three voices, Maurice and Verdine White, as well as the newest member of the group, Philip Bailey. The lyrics are vintage EWF, singing of hearts afire, love’s desire, and how this elevated emotion is the real place in the world. The words are sung over the chorus melody and when the first verse comes around, which speaks of moving on from sorrowful days, Maurice White’s vocals are doubled an octave higher by Bailey. Behind this, the guitars of Al McKay and Johnny Graham, while chording, do some sixteenth note strumming that is more like another rhythm pattern than a melodic element. The bridge brings up the volume on the vocals, with call and response harmonies building to the chorus, complete with string section. Philip Bailey does some soaring background vocals, and then everything comes back down to the verse melody and a tasteful guitar solo that plays through the next ad-lib verse. This is followed by a bridge, and a fadeout after the next chorus with lots of the kind of vocal acrobatics the group is known for.

I don’t think I even listen to the words at the time, but looking back they were fairly prescient. All I knew is that the haunting melody and the infectious rhythm of the piece were something that transported me away from the confusion surrounding me. What I didn’t know at the time was that mom had probably taken us with her to the hospital because the doctors told her dad was not going to make it, and she wanted us to be there when he died. But he didn’t die. His cancer went into remission and he stayed around for another nine years, which was pretty miraculous considering the type of cancer he had. Earth, Wind and Fire’s ode to moving on from pain and embracing love entered the Hot 100 on July 5th, 1975 and made its steady ascent to the number twelve spot at the end of September. The album of the same name was ostensibly a soundtrack album for the film of the same name, but That’s the Way of the World was something of a breakout for the group who had produced a couple of lesser Top 40 hits before this, but finally reached the top spot with “Shining Star,” the opening track from the album. “That’s the Way of the World,” along with its instrumental B-side “Africano” was the second single from the album and was a ubiquitous presence on Top 40 radio all of that memorable summer.