The O'Jays - For the love of Money - Lyrics Meaning

For the Love of Money is song written in the soul/funk mode by the Philadelphia based song writing team of Anthony Jackson, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff for the O'Jays, who were riding a tremendous wave of success at the time largely as a result of the excellent songs being produced for them.

The shortened version of the song was issued as a single in late 1973, and made it to number three on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart, as well as the ninth spot on the US Billboard's Pop Singles chart in the spring of 1974. The version recorded for the O'Jays album, Ship Ahoy, became a bit of a cult hit, widely played on the radio, although it was more than seven minutes long.

The song's title has the distinction of being derived from a biblical verse: "For the love of money is the root of all evil" The group's excellent vocals describe what greed and the hunger for money can do to a man, and the lengths they will stretch to acquire more and more.

For the Love of Money made a revival in 2004 when it was used as the theme for the hit reality television show The Apprentice featuring property magnate and billionaire Donald Trump. .