This song tells the story of a young woman with a lot on her mind who hits a sheet of black ice while driving to see her parents for Christmas. When she goes into a skid and fears for her life, she throws her hands up and says, "Jesus, take the wheel." Guided by Jesus, the car comes to a safe stop with her baby still asleep in the back seat. At this point she vows to give her life to Christ.
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Suggestion credit:
Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
The woman in the song did the right thing by not slamming on the brakes, but simply asking Jesus for help is not the recommended way to get out of a skid. Instead, take your foot off the gas and steer in the direction you want the car to go.
Underwood was the 2005 American Idol winner. As the show progressed, she was positioned as a country singer and became the first winner of the show who was considered country. Some Hearts established her reputation as a pop friendly country artist, debuting at #2 on the US albums chart and #1 on the Country chart.
The song was written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson. Brett James told Roughstock in a 2013 interview that the cut has personal meaning to the three writers, and is a tune they are all proud to have been part of penning. "'Jesus, Take the Wheel' was written at Hillary's house on her living room floor," he recalled. "It was done like any other rainy day in Nashville. We walked in, started drinking coffee and talking about what we wanted to write that day. As writers, you kill about a half an hour just shooting the bull, and then it's like, 'OK what do you want to write today?' Gordie says, 'Man, I've got this title... 'When Jesus Takes the Wheel.'' Now, we're kind of used to that phrase, but that was the first time I'd ever heard it, and I kind of laughed it off.
"We talked about some other ideas, and fortunately after we went through about three or four other ideas, that one kept coming up," continued James. "So I was like, 'What about that 'When Jesus Takes the Wheel' idea. What would we write that one about?' We came up with a little girl driving through Cincinnati. There are some personal stories involved. My wife almost had that experience. She had a very miraculous car crash that she walked away from. Since then, a lot of people have. You hear those stories all the time where they say I don't know what happen, I just know that it was a miracle that I got out of there.
"We write all kinds of songs," reflected James. "We write fun songs and songs you can dance to, and songs that are stupid and silly that sound good on the radio. Occasionally you need to write something that means something to people. Those are the most fun songs to be part of, and this one was definitely one of those."
Underwood told
Entertainment Weekly in 2012 that this is the song for which she'd like to be remembered. "I would pick an important one. Not '
Before He Cheats' or '
Good Girl,' none of that," she said. "Something that somebody can hear and it would make them feel better or help them through an important time or a tough time in their life."
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This won the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Underwood also won Best New Artist at the ceremony, beating James Blunt, Chris Brown, Imogen Heap, and Corinne Bailey Rae.
This also won Single of the Year at the 2006 Academy Of Country Music Awards, where Underwood was also named Top New Female Vocalist.
The music video, directed by Roman White, features Underwood singing against the backdrop of three domestic scenes, including a young mother trying to soothe her crying baby, an elderly man attempting to spoon-feed his unresponsive wife, and a couple arguing over finances. By the end, each conflict is resolved.
The video won Breakthrough Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year at the 2006 CMT Awards.
This has inspired several memes, including a 2010 image macro of Underwood telling Jesus to take the wheel, with Jesus replying, "I can't drive, LOL!" Another popular parody came from a 2013 Vine video where Jesus literally reaches in the driver's window and takes the wheel of a car while the song plays.
