Jesus, Take the Wheel
Encyclopedia
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" is a song written by Brett James
, Hillary Lindsey
and Gordie Sampson
. It is the second single from Carrie 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. The Country-Christian song became a crossover hit, spending time at No. 1 on the Country chart
as well as peaking at No. 4 on the Hot Christian Songs
chart.
The song ranked #4 on CMT's 40 Greatest Songs of the Decade.
, 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.
During the fifth season of American Idol
, Carrie Underwood went back to the show to perform the song.
She again sang this song at the 41st annual Academy of Country Music Awards where this song won the Single of the Year Award.
On April 2006, she sang this on the CMT Awards where Jesus, Take The Wheel won 2 major awards, Breakthrough Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year.
During her Carrie Underwood Live: 2006 Tour, she performed this song with the other tracks on her debut album.
On December 11, 2006, Oprah Winfrey held an "iTunes
" concert featuring Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, and Tony Bennett. Carrie performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" there.
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 ranked #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.
chart, and eventually spent six weeks as No. 1. That ties Underwood with several other female artists — including Kitty Wells
, Faith Hill
and Taylor Swift
— as runners-up for the longest-running No. 1 song by a solo female artist; the record is held by Connie Smith
(1964's "Once a Day
").
It proved to be a crossover hit, eventually making it to number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100
chart and selling around 1,897,000 digital downloads
.
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" finished 4th on the 2006 Year-End Hot Country Songs Chart.
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" was certified Platinum by the RIAA in April 2006.
On August, 2008, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was reported to have been sold more than 1 million ringtones and was certified Platinum, making Underwood the first country artist ever to have two songs hit Platinum Mastertone status.
|-
! Chart (2005–2006)
! Peak
position
|-
|-
|-
| US Christian Songs (Billboard
)
| align="center"| 4
|-
|-
!Year end chart
!Position
|-
|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|78
|-
|U.S Hot Country Songs
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
|-
! Country
! Certification
! Sales
|-
| United States
| Digital: Platinum
Mastertone: Platinum
| 1,897,000
|-
| Canada
| Gold
| 40,000
|}
| align="center"|2007 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Best Female Country Vocal Performance
||
|-
| align="center"|2007 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year
||
|-
| align="center"|2007 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Country Song of the Year
||
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Inspirational Mainstream Country Song of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Inspirational Music Video of the Year ||
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Single of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year ||
2006 CMT Music Awards
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Female Video of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Breakthrough Video of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Most Inspiring Video of the Year ||
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| SOCAN Song of the Year ||
2006 Gospel Music Association Awards
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Country Recorded Song of the Year ||
2006 Nashville Songwriters Association International
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year ||
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year ||
2006 Country Music Association Awards
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Music Video of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Single of the Year ||
performed this song during the "Country" theme week, but received poor reviews from the judges. This marked the second time an American Idol winner's song was covered on the show with the first being Lisa Tucker
on season 5 covering Kelly Clarkson
's "Because of You
".
On March 17, 2009, American Idol season 8 contestant Danny Gokey
covered the song during the Grand Ole Opry
week and received mostly positive reviews from the judges.
On June 14, 2011, Jeff Jenkins performed the song on The Voice
.
Rick Hendrix
Company originally promoted the single and recently announced it had been recorded 87 times in Christian music.
Brett James
Brett James Cornelius is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Signed to Career Records as a solo artist in 1995, James charted three singles and released a self-titled debut album that year...
, Hillary Lindsey
Hillary Lindsey
Hillary Lindsey is a country music singer-songwriter. As a songwriter, she has written songs with or for Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Bon Jovi, Taylor Swift, and Tim McGraw. One of her compositions, Underwood's Number One hit "Jesus, Take the Wheel",...
and Gordie Sampson
Gordie Sampson
Gordie Sampson is a singer-songwriter and producer from Big Pond, Nova Scotia, Canada.He has written songs for Carrie Underwood , Martina McBride , LeAnn Rimes , and George Canyon and produced and sound engineered...
. It is the second single from Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
's debut album, Some Hearts.
The ballad tells of a woman seeking help from Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
in an emergency, ultimately letting Jesus take control of her life. The Country-Christian song became a crossover hit, spending time at No. 1 on the Country chart
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
as well as peaking at No. 4 on the Hot Christian Songs
Hot Christian Songs
Christian Songs is a Billboard chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States....
chart.
The song ranked #4 on CMT's 40 Greatest Songs of the Decade.
Content
The song tells the story of a mother who lives a hectic life. On a late-night Christmas Eve drive on a snow-covered road on her way to Cincinnati, OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, 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
Black ice
Black ice, sometimes called glare ice or clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glazed ice on a surface.While not truly black, it is virtually transparent, allowing black asphalt/macadam roadways to be seen through it, hence the term "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
She first performed this at the 2005 Country Music Association Awards.During the fifth season of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
, Carrie Underwood went back to the show to perform the song.
She again sang this song at the 41st annual Academy of Country Music Awards where this song won the Single of the Year Award.
On April 2006, she sang this on the CMT Awards where Jesus, Take The Wheel won 2 major awards, Breakthrough Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year.
During her Carrie Underwood Live: 2006 Tour, she performed this song with the other tracks on her debut album.
On December 11, 2006, Oprah Winfrey held an "iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
" concert featuring Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, and Tony Bennett. Carrie performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" there.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
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
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for it was originally slated for release on November 4, 2005 but was delayed and made available at a later date on Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Launch
LAUNCHcast
Yahoo! Music Radio is an Internet radio service offered by CBS Radio through Yahoo! Music. The service, formerly offered by LAUNCH Media, and originally developed by Todd Beaupré and Jeff Boulter, debuted on November 11, 1999, and was purchased by Yahoo! in October, 2001...
.
"Jesus, Take The Wheel" was ranked #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.
Reception
The song debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot Country SongsHot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart, and eventually spent six weeks as No. 1. That ties Underwood with several other female artists — including Kitty Wells
Kitty Wells
Ellen Muriel Deason , known professionally as Kitty Wells, is an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star...
, Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
and Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
— as runners-up for the longest-running No. 1 song by a solo female artist; the record is held by Connie Smith
Connie Smith
Connie Smith is an American country music artist. She began her career in 1963 after winning a local talent contest near Columbus, Ohio, which attracted the attention of country songwriter Bill Anderson...
(1964's "Once a Day
Once a Day
"Once a Day" is a song written by Bill Anderson and recorded as the debut single by American country artist Connie Smith. It was produced by Bob Ferguson for her self-titled debut album. The song was released in August 1964, topping the Billboard country music chart for eight weeks between late...
").
It proved to be a crossover hit, eventually making it to number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart and selling around 1,897,000 digital downloads
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
.
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" finished 4th on the 2006 Year-End Hot Country Songs Chart.
"Jesus, Take the Wheel" was certified Platinum by the RIAA in April 2006.
On August, 2008, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was reported to have been sold more than 1 million ringtones and was certified Platinum, making Underwood the first country artist ever to have two songs hit Platinum Mastertone status.
Chart performance
{| class="wikitable sortable"|-
! Chart (2005–2006)
! Peak
position
|-
|-
|-
| US Christian Songs (Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
)
| align="center"| 4
|-
|-
!Year end chart
!Position
|-
|U.S. Billboard Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|78
|-
|U.S Hot Country Songs
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
Certifications
{| class="wikitable"|-
! Country
! Certification
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
! Sales
|-
| United States
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
| Digital: Platinum
Mastertone: Platinum
| 1,897,000
|-
| Canada
Canadian Recording Industry Association
Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...
| Gold
| 40,000
|}
49th Grammy Awards
|-| align="center"|2007 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance was first awarded in 1965, to Dottie West. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1965 to 1967 the award was known as Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Female...
||
|-
| align="center"|2007 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...
||
|-
| align="center"|2007 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Country Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Best Country Song
The Grammy Award for Best Country Song has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the writer of the song.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...
||
12th Inspirational Country Music Awards
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Inspirational Mainstream Country Song of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Inspirational Music Video of the Year ||
41st Academy of Country Music Awards
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Single of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year ||
2006 CMT Music AwardsCMT Music AwardsThe CMT Music Awards is a fan-voted awards show for country music videos and television performances. The awards ceremony is held every year in Nashville, Tennessee, and broadcast live on CMT. Voting takes place on CMT's website, CMT.com.-History:...
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Female Video of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Breakthrough Video of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Most Inspiring Video of the Year ||
2006 Canadian Country Music Awards
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| SOCAN Song of the Year ||
2006 Gospel Music Association AwardsGMA Music AwardsThe Gospel Music Association Dove Awards are presented annually by the Gospel Music Association for outstanding achievements in the Christian music industry. The awards are usually presented during a ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, that features performances by a number of the industry's newest...
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Country Recorded Song of the Year ||
2006 Nashville Songwriters Association InternationalNashville Songwriters Association InternationalThe Nashville Songwriters Association International is a 501 not-for-profit trade organization that works to help songwriters in three ways: through legislative advocacy, through education and advice about the actual craft of songwriting, and through teaching about the music industry, and how to...
Awards
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year ||
2006 ASCAP Country Music Awards
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Song of the Year ||
2006 Country Music Association AwardsCountry Music Association AwardsThe Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
|-| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Music Video of the Year ||
|-
| align="center"|2006 ||align="center"| "Jesus, Take the Wheel" ||align="center"| Single of the Year ||
Covers
On April 17, 2007, American Idol season 6 contestant LaKisha JonesLaKisha Jones
LaKisha Ann Jones is an American singer. She placed fourth on the sixth season of American Idol.-Personal life:Jones was born at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, to a teacher at the Flint Foundation Academy...
performed this song during the "Country" theme week, but received poor reviews from the judges. This marked the second time an American Idol winner's song was covered on the show with the first being Lisa Tucker
Lisa Tucker (singer)
Lisa Gabrielle Tucker is an American singer, musical theater and television actress who was the tenth-place finalist on the fifth season of American Idol.-Early life and career beginnings:...
on season 5 covering Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,...
's "Because of You
Because of You (Kelly Clarkson song)
"Because of You" is a ballad written by pop rock singer Kelly Clarkson with David Hodges and Ben Moody, and produced by Hodges and Moody, both formerly of Evanescence. It is the fourth single from Clarkson's second album, Breakaway...
".
On March 17, 2009, American Idol season 8 contestant Danny Gokey
Danny Gokey
Daniel Jay "Danny" Gokey is an American country music singer and church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol...
covered the song during the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
week and received mostly positive reviews from the judges.
On June 14, 2011, Jeff Jenkins performed the song on The Voice
The Voice (U.S. TV series)
The Voice is an American reality talent show that premiered on April 26, 2011 on the NBC television network. Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, the series was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. It is part of an international series...
.
Rick Hendrix
Rick Hendrix
Richard Binghames Hendrix Jr. , better known by the name Rick Hendrix, is an American entertainment promoter and songwriter of southern gospel, country music and pop music...
Company originally promoted the single and recently announced it had been recorded 87 times in Christian music.