Released October 3, 2005 (U.S.) Label Arista | Format Digital download Length 3:46 | |
Writer(s) | ||
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" is a song written by Brett James, Hillary Lindsey, and Gordie Sampson, and recorded by American country music artist Carrie Underwood. It was released in October 2005 as the first single from Underwood's debut album Some Hearts. The ballad tells of a woman seeking help from Jesus in an emergency, ultimately letting Jesus take control of her life.
Contents
The country-Christian song became a crossover hit, spending six consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart and charting high on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It also became a top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" won Grammys for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song, and it won Single of the Year at the 2005 Academy of Country Music Awards. The song ranked number four on CMT's 40 Greatest Songs of the Decade.
Content
The song tells the story of a young mother who lives a hectic life. On a late-night Christmas Eve drive on a snow-covered road on her way to Cincinnati, Ohio, the woman begins sorting out her emotions and bemoans not having enough time to do the things that really matter. Then, her car hits a patch of black ice, causing the woman to lose control of her car. She panics, takes her hands off the steering wheel and cries out to Jesus; shortly thereafter, the car stops spinning and safely stops on the shoulder. After taking stock of the situation (and seeing that her baby has remained fast asleep in the rear seat), the woman decides to let "Jesus take the wheel" of her life.
Performances
Underwood gave her debut performance of the song at the 2005 Country Music Association Awards.
On May 23, 2006, she again sang it at the 41st annual Academy of Country Music Awards, where she won the Single of the Year Award for the song.
On April 2006, she sang it on the CMT Awards, where "Jesus, Take The Wheel" won two major awards, Breakthrough Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year.
During her Carrie Underwood: Live in Concert tour, she performed this song with other tracks on her debut album.
On December 11, 2006, Oprah Winfrey held an "iTunes" concert featuring Underwood, Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, and Tony Bennett. Underwood performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" there.
Music video
The music video features Underwood singing in various backgrounds such as, a living room, through shelves, standing by a wall, and sitting in a chair. A woman, a young couple, and an older couple are all shown through the video trying to ease a baby, fighting over bills and making up, and trying to feed his wife respectively.
The music video for it was originally slated for release on November 4, 2005 but was delayed and made available at a later date on Yahoo! Launch.
"Jesus, Take The Wheel" was nominated for Music Video of the Year at the 2006 Country Music Association Awards and was ranked No. 64 on CMT's 100 Greatest Videos.
Underwood has stated that her favorite part of the video is when the old woman puts her hand on her husband's.
Charts and certifications
The song debuted at number 39 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and eventually spent six weeks as number one. It proved to be a crossover hit, eventually making it to number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and selling around 2,470,000 digital downloads.
In August 2008, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was certified Platinum, making Underwood the first country artist ever to have two songs hit Platinum Mastertone status. In February 2011, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA.