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Cover of Autoamerican by Blondie
Cover: Autoamerican

Song · Blondie

“The Tide Is High” by Blondie

From the album Autoamerican (1980)

“The Tide Is High” by Blondie appears on 20 radio countdowns from 10 stations between 1989 and 2026. It was first released in 1980 on the album Autoamerican. Its best result is #31 on the WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,615 alternative song of all time.

20countdowns
10stations
#31best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1989–2026years charted

Watch

Blondie - The Tide Is High

Video from YouTube (BlondieVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

Blondie reached back to Jamaica for "The Tide Is High", the song that floated out of Autoamerican in 1980. John Holt, Howard Barrett and Tyrone Evans wrote it, and Holt's group the Paragons first cut it as a rocksteady number in 1967; Blondie's cover took it to the top in both the US and the UK.

Mike Chapman produced, and the band plays it loose and sunny, swaying rather than rocking: Clem Burke and Nigel Harrison rolling out an easy island lilt, Chris Stein and Frank Infante on guitars, Stein even on timpani, and Jimmy Destri on keyboards, with Alex Acuña, Ollie E. Brown and Emil Richards dropping in extra percussion. Deborah Harry sings it cool and a little coy, half promise, half shrug.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1989 142 91X 91X Top 191 Songs of the 1980s (1989) 191
1999 872 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 1025 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 770 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 770 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 206 Virgin Radio Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 500
2002 770 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 1186 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 770 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 770 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 333 Virgin Radio Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 500
2005 771 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2006 442 Virgin Radio Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) 500
2012 42 93.3 WMMR WMMR Top 50 Songs of Summer (2012) 49
2020 1659 WXPN WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time 2020
2021 358 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s 909
2023 190 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s 850
2024 317 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs 850
2025 218 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs 800
2026 31 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s 498

Also listed as: The Tide is High.

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