[1] "Only the Strong Survive" was the first of two singles by Butler which were gold certified by the RIAA, selling over a million copies (the second was "Ain't Understanding Mellow" in 1972).

This is followed, in song, by the narrator, singing about the fact that the woman he loved was gone, and that his mother told him to stand up, be strong, and to look for another girl instead, after feeling depressed about the terrible ordeal.

The song is about a man who is depressed after a breakup and receives advice from his mother to be strong and to look for another woman.

Elvis Presley (1969), Skeeter Davis (1969), Billy Paul (1977), Rod Stewart (2009) Larry Carlton (2010), and Bruce Springsteen (on his album of the same name) (2022) also recorded "Only The Strong Survive."

The song appears on the compilation album Only the Strong Survive (Sony), which oddly enough shows the remaining four group members on the cover.