Format 7", 12" single Genre R&B, funk | Recorded 1985 Label Jive | |
Released 15 November 1985 (US)
January 1986 (UK) Length 5:44 (album version)
4:08 (radio edit) | ||
"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" is a song co-written and originally recorded by English singer Billy Ocean in 1985.
Contents
Written by Wayne Brathwaite, Barry Eastmond, Mutt Lange and Billy Ocean, the song was used as the theme song for the Michael Douglas film, The Jewel of the Nile, the sequel to the hit blockbuster film, Romancing the Stone. The saxophone solo is by Vernon Jeffrey Smith.
Aided by a video featuring Michael Douglas and co-stars Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito as lip-synching backup singers, the song became a major international hit reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in February 1986, and number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, stalling behind "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston.
12" track listing
A1 "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" (extended version) – 5:43 A2 "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" (7" version) – 4:08 B1 "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" (club mix) – 7:35 B2 "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" (instrumental) – 5:12Boyzone version
The Irish boyband Boyzone recorded a cover version for the 1999 Comic Relief telethon, shortening the title to "When The Going Gets Tough". Their version reached number #1 on the UK Singles Chart. The song received a platinum certification in the UK. The video included Graham Norton, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus, Mel Smith, Davina McCall, Harry Hill, Steve Collins, John McCririck, Jimmy White, Mystic Meg, Will Mellor, James Dreyfus, the cast of Emmerdale, Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, and Ulrika Jonsson and Saracen from Gladiators.
Track listing
- "When The Going Gets Tough" - 3:35
- "What A Wonderful World" (Featuring Alison Moyet) - 4:00
- "Love Can Build A Bridge" - 3:59
- "When The Going Gets Tough" - 3:35
- "I'll Never Not Need You" - 4:07
Usage in media
In 1994, the song was used for a clip of the 1986 edition of the BBC documentary The Rock 'n' Roll Years featuring coverage of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines. Three years later, it was also used as a background song in the 1985-86 football season edition of Match of the 80s, during coverage of the challenge Kenny Dalglish faced on his appointment as player-manager of Liverpool F.C..
In the 2008 film Easy Virtue a cover version, in 1920's faux-jazz style, featured in the closing credits performed by Colin Firth, Ben Barnes, Jessica Biel, and Andy Caine.
The song was used in the film Keith Lemon: The Film (2012), as an ongoing theme, highlighting the claim that Billy Ocean was Lemon's father. Ocean himself appears in a cameo role.
In 1986, during the shows Superstars of Wrestling (and occasionally Prime Time Wrestling), the WWE (then called the WWF - World Wrestling Federation) would sometimes play the introduction part of the song while it would show a replay of a finishing move during a wrestling match.