Reading through Charlie Gillette’s The Sound of the City: The Classic History of Rock, I came across a reference to this Chi-lites’ hit. Beside being one of the best soul tunes of all time, it’s well known in part because of the talking intro, which, unfortunately, some radio stations felt the need to omit. That’s too bad, as it added so much to the feeling of the song.
Written by lead singer Eugene Record (1940-2005) and Barbara Acklin (1943-1998), it’s a sad song about a guy who passes his time in various mundane ways hoping his lost love will come back to him. That doesn’t happen and in a worldly-wise way our protagonist has to deal with the fact that you don’t always get want you want (to quote another song).
“Have You Seen Her” reached no. 3 on the Billboard Top 100, and got to the top of the Billboard R&B Singles chart in November of 1971.
Previous records by the group had veered between the raspy attack of the Temptations and the purity of the Miracles, but in [“Have You Seen Her”] Record found his own territory: “situation songs” presented in fine detail, and sung in a voice that switched from warm tenor to soft falsetto.
The Sound of the City p . 222
In the interest of equal time, I should note that the co-writer on the song was Barbara Acklin, a singer as well as a songwriter who had most of her success in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was “Love Makes a Woman” (1968).
It’s a classic and was no doubt a heartache song for many.