The Tide Is High

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"The Tide Is High"
Blondie
Single by The Paragons
Released	1965 (Original) October 1980 (Blondie) (AK)
Covered on	Autoamerican (Blondie)
Format	CD
Genre	Reggae
Length	3:28
Label	Chrysalis Records (Blondie)
Blondie singles chronology
"Atomic" (1980)	← →	"Rapture" (1981)

"The Tide Is High"
Single by Atomic Kitten
from the album Feels So Good
Released	August 26, 2002
Format	CD
Genre	Pop
Length	3:54
Label	Virgin Records
Chart positions
1 (UK)
Atomic Kitten singles chronology
"It's OK!" (2001)	"The Tide is High" (2002)	"The Last Goodbye"/"Be with You" (2002)

"The Tide Is High" is a 1967 song written by John Holt and performed by The Paragons with John Holt as lead singer. Although originally released as an A side in Jamaica on the Treasure Isle label it was relegated to the B-side of the "Only a Smile" single for UK release a few months later.

The song features the violin of "White Rum" Raymond and was popular in Jamaica and became popular amongst West Indians and skinheads in the UK when a DJ version by U-Roy was released in 1971. This song went mainly unnoticed in the rest of the world until it was rediscovered in 1980 and 2002.

Contents 1 Tracklists 2 Charts 3 Cover versions 3.1 Blondie 3.2 Atomic Kitten 3.3 Other covers 4 References 5 External link

[edit] Tracklists

#	Title	Length
The Paragons single
A.	"Only A Smile"	?
B.	"The Tide Is High"	2:54
Blondie single
1.	"The Tide Is High"	3:54
2.	"Suzie & Jeffrey"	4:09
Atomic Kitten CD1
1.	"The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) (Radio Mix)"	3:28
2.	"The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) (Groove Brothers 12inch Remix)"	5:27
3.	"The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling) (Lasgo Remix)"	5:40

[edit] Charts

Country	Date	Peak position	Certification
Blondie cover
United States	January 1981	1
United Kingdom	November 1980	1	Platinum[1]
Ireland	November 9, 1980	2[2]
The Netherlands	November 29, 1980	4[3]
Austria	January 15, 1981	6[4]
Norway	December 1980	7[5]
Sweden	December 26, 1980	19[6]
Papa Dee cover
Finland	October 1996	20[7]
Sweden	August 23, 1996	44[8]
Atomic Kitten cover
United Kingdom	September 2002	1 (3 weeks)	Gold[9]
Ireland	August 31, 2002	1 (4 weeks)[10]
New Zealand	October 20, 2002	1 (4 weeks)[11]
Austria	October 13, 2002	3[12]
The Netherlands	September 2002	3[13]
Germany	October 12, 2002	3[14]
Australia	October 20, 2002	4[15]	Platinum[16]
Sweden	November 21, 2002	5[17]
Belgium	September 28, 2002	5[18]
Norway	October 2002	11[19]
Denmark	September 14, 2002	12[20]
Portugal	October 30, 2002	14[21]
France	March 8, 2003	42[22]
United States	April, 2003	42[23]

[edit] Cover versions

[edit] Blondie

"The Tide Is High" became a popular song after being covered by Blondie as the fourth track from the 1980 album Autoamerican. A horn section and strings were added to the song to make more in line with the Blondie album.

It is the most popular reggae song made by Blondie. It reached number one in the UK singles chart in November 1980, and was the last UK number-one single for the band until "Maria" in 1999. The band tried to emulate this with the single "Island of Lost Souls" in 1982, but with less success: it only reached number eleven. Its B-side was "Suzie and Jeffrey", which did not appear on any Blondie studio album until the remaster of Autoamerican in 2001. The song had similar success in the United States becoming Blondie's third single to top the Billboard Hot 100.

[edit] Atomic Kitten

"The Tide Is High" was covered again, by Atomic Kitten, and again reached number one in the UK in September 2002. This time the song was remade with keyboards to make it more pop oriented. It was used for a TV commercial for Japanese beer company, Asahi Breweries.

[edit] Other covers

• UB40 released a cover of this song.
• In 1996 the song was covered by Papa Dee.
• In 1996 a Spanish version, La numero uno, was recorded by Nydia Rojas
• In 1997 the song was covered by Angelina.^[24]
• In 2000 the song was covered by Billie Piper on her Walk of Life album.
• In 2001 the song was covered by Seeed.

[edit] References

[edit] External link

• Classic tracks: Blondie's "The Tide Is High" (article on how the remake was created)

Preceded by "(Just Like) Starting Over" by John Lennon	Billboard Hot 100 number one single January 31, 1981 (Blondie version)	Succeeded by "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang
Preceded by "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand	UK number one single November 9, 1980 (Blondie version)	Succeeded by "Super Trouper" by ABBA
Preceded by "Tha Crossroads" by Blazin' Squad	UK number one single September 1, 2002 (Atomic Kitten version)	Succeeded by "Just Like A Pill" by Pink