"Everyday People" is a 1968 song by Sly & the Family
Stone. It was the first single by the band to go to number one
on the Soul singles chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It held that position, on the Hot 100, for four weeks from
February 15, 1969, until March 14, 1969, and is remembered as a
popular song of the 1960s. Like nearly all of Sly & the
Family Stone's songs, Sly Stone was credited as the sole
songwriter.
The song is one of Sly Stone's pleas for peace and equality
between differing races and social groups, a major theme and
focus for the band. The Family Stone featured caucasians Greg
Errico and Jerry Martini in its lineup, as well as females Rose
Stone and Cynthia Robinson; making it the first major
integrated band in rock history. Sly & the Family Stone's
message was about peace and equality through music, and this
song reflects the same.
Unlike the band's more typically funky and psychedelic
records, "Everyday People" is a mid-tempo number with a more
mainstream pop feel. Sly, singing the main verses for the song,
explains that he is "no better / and neither are you / we are
the same / whatever we do."
Sly's sister Rose Stone sings bridging sections that mock
the futility of people hating each other for being tall, short,
fat, skinny, white, black, or anything else. The bridges of the
song contain the line "different strokes for different folks,"
which became a popular catchphrase in 1969.
For the chorus, all of the singing members of the band (Sly,
Rosie, Larry Graham, and Sly's brother Freddie Stone) proclaim
that "I am everyday people," meaning that each of them (and
each listener as well) should consider himself or herself as
parts of one whole, not of smaller, specialized factions.
Bassist Larry Graham contends that the track featured the
first instance of the "slap bass" technique, which would become
a staple of funk and other genres. The technique involves
striking a string with the thumb of the right hand (or left
hand, for a left-handed player) so that the string collides
with the frets, producing a metallic "clunk" at the beginning
of the note. Later slap bass songs – for example, Graham's
performance on "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)" –
expanded on the technique, incorporating a complementary "pull"
or "pop" component.
"Everyday People" was included on the band's classic album
Stand!(1969), which sold over three million copies. It
is one of the most covered songs in the band's repertoire, with
versions by Aretha Franklin, The Staple Singers, Joan Jett (a
modest hit in the year of 1983), The Supremes & The Four
Tops, Peggy Lee, Belle & Sebastian, and Pearl Jam, among
many others. Hip-hop group Arrested Development used the song
as the basis of their 1992 hit, "People Everyday," which
reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart and #8 on the Hot 100. Dolly
Parton's previously unreleased 1980 cover of the song was
included as a bonus track on the 2009 reissue of her
9 to 5 and Odd Jobsalbum. it was also prominently
featured in a series of television commercials for Toyota
automobiles in the late 1990s and most recently for Smarties
candy in 2008. Rolling Stone ranked "Everyday People" as #145
on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
On the 2005 Sly & the Family Stone tribute album
Different Strokes by Different Folks, Maroon 5 performs
a cover of "Everyday People", accompanied by samples from the
original.
"Everyday People" is prominently featured in the opening
sequence of the 2008 romantic comedy film
Definitely, Maybe. The lead character, Will Hayes
(played by Ryan Reynolds), calls it his "perfect song" for that
particular day. It can also be heard in the film
Purple Haze.