"Only the Strong Survive" is a 1968 song by Jerry Butler, released on his album The Ice Man Cometh. It was the most successful single of his career, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was #1 for two weeks on the Billboard Black Singles Chart, in March and April 1969, respectively.
"Only the Strong Survive" was the first of two singles which were platinum certified by the RIAA, selling over a million copies (the second was "Ain’t Understanding Mellow" in 1972).
Elvis Presley (1969) and Billy Paul (1977) also recorded versions of this song. Another version of this song was recorded by The Trammps in the Netherlands in 2003. It sounds very similar to Billy Paul's version. The song appears on the compilation album 'Only The Strong Survive'(Sony), which oddly enough shows the remaining four group members on the cover. There's also an extended clubmix of this song on this cd. The clubmix was produced by Maas and Van der Weyde.
Famous quotes containing the words strong and/or survive:
“A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It’s a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“The desire for possession is insatiable, to such a point that it can survive even love itself. To love, therefore, is to sterilize the person one loves.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)