Song · Spirit
“I Got A Line On You” by Spirit
From the album The Family That Plays Together (1968)
“I Got A Line On You” by Spirit appears on 9 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 1982 and 2026. It was first released in 1968 on the album The Family That Plays Together. Its best result is #111 on The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,932 indie & aaa song of all time.
Spirit cut "I Got A Line On You" in 1968 during the sessions for The Family That Plays Together, their second album, and Ode Records sent it out as a single that October, ahead of the LP. Randy California, the band's guitarist and singer, wrote it when he was all of 17, and it moves like it: a tough, wiry little rocker with a hook you can't shake, done and dusted in under three minutes. Lou Adler produced.
It didn't explode so much as creep. College radio latched on in late November, and the single kept inching up until it topped out at No. 25 in the U.S. in March 1969, and No. 28 in Canada. It has long since settled in as a rock classic, and Spirit stretched it past seven minutes on The Thirteenth Dream, their 1984 reunion record.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 476 | 95.5 KLOS | KLOS Memorial Day 500 (1982) | 499 |
| 2002 | 774 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2002) | 923 |
| 2004 | 815 | 92.3 KGON | KGON Top 923 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2004) | 923 |
| 2011 | 461 | 97.9 The Loop | The Loop Rock N Roll 500 (2011) | 500 |
| 2012 | 538 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Rock Songs (2012) | 885 |
| 2014 | 579 | Big 100 | BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) | 1000 |
| 2020 | 1579 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2025 | 111 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
| 2026 | 368 | KSHE 95 | KSHE 95 U-Man 500 (2026) | 499 |
Also listed as: I Got a Line on You; I Got A Line.
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