After splitting from record producer Thom Bell in 1974, songwriters/producers Hugo & Luigi and George David Weiss took over, with arrangements by Van McCoy. Although the split with Bell negatively affected the group in the US, The Stylistics continued to be popular in the UK and this was their first and only UK number one single. The track reached number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number 18 on the corresponding US R&B chart.

In 1975, French female singer Nicoletta sang a French version of this song entitled "A Quoi Sert de Vivre Libre".

Also in 1975, the song was covered by American jazz bassist and composer Ron Carter on his album "Anything Goes"

In 1991, it was covered by the German singer Thomas Anders as well as Hong Kong artist, Gloria Yip, who released a Japanese version.

In 1996, the song was covered by Irish boyband OTT.

In 2006, it was used as the base for a Japanese advertisement campaign by Gatsby, to launch their new male hair styling product, 'Moving Rubber'. The campaign was successful due to the tune and that the commercial featured one of Japan's most popular celebrities, Takuya Kimura, of the pop group, SMAP. They were also featured guests on SMAP's television show SMAP×SMAP, one of the highest rated shows in Japan.

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