In the song’s lyrics, Chaka expresses how vital her significant other’s love is to her being, providing her with the strength and motivation to weather life's many hardships and struggles.
Chaka cowrote “You Got The Love” with singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Ray Parker Jr. In a 2023 interview, she discussed the genesis of the song. She said that Parker wanted her to listen to an instrumental track that he had been working on. He played it for her and asked if she could come up with some lyrics. Chaka immediately fell in love with the super-funky guitar riff. “When I heard that, I could hear the words already,” she said. She added, “Ray’s a wonderful guy, and I gotta thank him for that, he came with the goods.” The song was released on October 19, 1974. It topped Billboard’s R&B singles chart and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. And it reached #21 on the Canadian charts.
“You Got The Love” has been sampled on 21 songs, including Lenny Kravitz’s “It’s Your Life” and Tone Lōc’s “On Fire” (Remix). It was featured in an episode of the popular TV series Scandal (Season 5, Episode 1, 2015) and in an episode of the miniseries Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (Season 1, Episode 8, 2024).
The full personnel on Rags To Rufus were Chaka Khan (lead and background vocals), Dennis Belfield (bass, background vocals), André Fischer (drums, percussion, background vocals), Al Ciner (electric and acoustic guitars, background vocals), Ron Stockert (keyboards, lead and background vocals) and Kevin Murphy (organ, clavinet, background vocals). The album was produced by Bob Monaco and Rufus. It was released on ABC Records.
“You Got The Love” is one of Rufus’ signature songs, and Chaka still regularly performs it at her shows.