Songfacts®:

• This was written by Barbara Acklin and Eugene Record (who was frontman for The Chi-Lites). The spoken parts were inspired by the opening monologues on Isaac Hayes' 1969 Hot Buttered Soul album, where Hayes would tell an often heartbreaking tale using his speaking voice before singing.
  
  On "Have You Seen Her," Record speaks the verses, explaining that ever since his girl left him, he hasn't been able to enjoy the simple pleasures in life like going to the movies or playing with the neighborhood children. That's because he can't stop thinking about his girl, and he envisions her everywhere he goes, even though she's not really there. He tell himself she'll be back, but he knows deep down it's a lie. Still, he asks anyone who will listen, "Have you seen her?"
• Eugene Record had the "doo doo doo" intro for this song and the line, "Have you seen her? Tell me have you seen her?" but didn't know where to go with it until he sang it for Acklin, who helped complete the song.
• Barbara Acklin and Eugene Record had dual careers as artists and songwriters. Acklin was a solo artist who had her biggest hit in 1968 with "Love Makes A Woman" (#15 US), which Record co-wrote. Record fronted The Chi-Lites and wrote most of their hits, including "(For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People" and "Oh Girl." As a team, Acklin and Record's compositions include "Two Little Kids" for Peaches & Herb and several other Chi-Lites tracks, including "Stoned Out Of My Mind" and "We Are Neighbors."
  
  They wrote the first version of the song years earlier, but thought it was too long to record. When Isaac Hayes released Hot Buttered Soul, which included an 18-minute song, they saw the song's potential and decided to record it for The Chi-Lites third album, since they had some room. The track clocks in at 5:08 and was the last song recorded for the set.
• The Chi-Lites label Brunswick Records didn't think much of this song and released three other songs as singles from the album. When R&B radio stations started playing "Have You Seen Her" off of the album, the label finally saw the hit potential and issued it as a single. It became the group's first #1 on the R&B chart and their first Top 10 on the Hot 100.
• The Chi-Lites followed this template of lovelorn spoken verses on a number of other songs, including their #33 hit in 1973, "A Letter To Myself."
• MC Hammer covered this song on his 1990 10-million-selling album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. It was released as the second single from the album, following "U Can't Touch This," and it reached #4 in the US.