The Tide Is High

Album: Autoamerican (1980)
Charted: 1 1
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  • The tide is high but I'm holdin' on
    I'm gonna be your number one
    I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

    It's not the things you do that tease and hurt me bad
    But it's the way you do the things you do to me
    I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

    The tide is high but I'm holdin' on
    I'm gonna be your number one, number one.

    Ev'ry girl wants you to be her man
    But I'll wait my dear till it's my turn
    I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

    The tide is high but I'm holdin' on
    I'm gonna be your number one, number one, number one

    Ev'ry girl wants you to be her man
    But I'll wait my dear till it's my turn
    I'm not the kind-a girl who gives up just like that, oh no

    The tide is high but I'm holding on
    I'm gonna be your number one, number one, number one

    The tide is high but I'm holding on
    I'm gonna be your number one
    The tide is high but I'm holding on
    I'm gonna be your number one
    The tide is high but I'm holding on
    I'm gonna be your number one Writer/s: Howard Anthony Barrett, John Kenneth Holt, Tyrone Evans
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Royalty Network
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 11

  • Gridsleep from Location Location LocationThe Tide is High by the Paragons sounds exactly like Buddy Holly's Everyday written ten years earlier, note for note. That's another fact for you. I don't want to say it was plagiarized, but I want to.
  • George Pope from Vancouver BcOf course, nowadays (202x) she'd not have switched the gender -- leaving listeners confused as to ambiguity (not necessarily her, but the industry)

    This would've been a good beach/surfer musical song -- many's the time a surfer's girlfriend(non-surfer) would get stuck on a roc outcropping, when the tide came up, & he'd be singing his love to her, that he'd come directly to her, but he tide is still high.
  • Daniel from GermanyWait… John Lennon played this constantly during the month between its release and his death and Sean (5 yo at the time) remembers this so vividly?
  • Anonymous from New Zeal AndUb40 and blondie would be magic singing together that’s what I reckon anyway
  • Drew from Birmingham, AlThe Paragons, who did the original, are Jamaican, as everyone may well have known. It's interesting to note how much Blondie's rendition sounds like a Led Zepp song punny-named off Jamaica (D'yer Mak'er). I wonder whether Led Zepp intentionally pointed back to the Jamaican Paragons and this song in the subject matter, sequelizing "The Tide Is High" with a downer ending. Think about it: if someone vowed to become someone's #1, u'd probably ask "So... did u make her (D'yer Mak'er)?" or something to that effect, asking how it went. Led Zepp's "D'yer Mak'er" is like a reply saying that it didn't go as hoped. Someone oughtta make a sequel with a happy ending, considering "The Tide Is High" made #1! The shot was called! When Sean Kingston sampled Led Zepp's "D'yer Mak'er" and UB40's "Red Red Wine" into his "Me Love", did he also perhaps have this song in mind?
  • Mike from San Antonio, TxThe X-pensive Winos was formed in 1987, which means Keith Richards made his version 7 years after Blondie did.
  • Jack from Newton, MaAfter some research, I wrote up a history of the song (with YouTube clips) tracking it from rocksteady (Paragons) to reggae (Holt, solo) to New Wave (Blondie) to girl band pop (gag, Atomic Kitten) and even to hip hop (Kardinal Offishall).
  • Ian from Nyc, NyI'm morbidly curious. How did they steal a song from Keith Richards if he didn't write it? Anyway, any more details about the claim tht Duke Reid wrote the original?
  • Mchael from Winston-salem, NcApparently Blondie stole this from Keith Richards and his part-time Stones side band called "The Inexpensive Winos".
  • Joshua from La Crosse, WiThe coolest thing about this song? The chorus includes the line "I'm gonna be your #1" - and sure enough, the song did indeed hit #1 in both the US and UK. Talk about calling your shot!
  • Robert from Puyallup, WaYou want to have fun with this song? Sing it in a thick Jamaican accent!

    "I'm note de kinda bloke
    Who geeve up joss like dat!
    Oh no-o-o-o-oh!
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