"The Streak" is a popular country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

/novelty song written, produced, and sung by Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become known for his novelty songs.-Early career:...

. It was released in March 1974 as the lead single to his album Boogity Boogity. "The Streak" capitalized on the then popular craze of streaking

Streaking

Streaking is the act of running nude through a public place.-History:On 5 July 1799, a Friday evening at 7 o'clock, a naked man was arrested at the Mansion House, London, and sent to the Poultry Compter...

.

One of Stevens' most successful recordings, "The Streak" was his second number one 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...

 singles chart in the USA, spending three weeks at the top in May 1974 and reached #3 on the Billboard Country singles chart. A major international hit it also reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, spending a single week at the top of the chart in June 1974. In total it sold over 5 million copies internationally and ranked on 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...

magazine's Top hits of 1974 at #8.

Content

The song's story is a series of three "news flashes" featuring the "Action News

Action News

Action News is a local television newscast format in the United States. It was conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at WFIL-TV by then-news director Mel Kampmann in 1970 as a response to the "Eyewitness News" format used on rival station KYW-TV...

 Reporter" (Stevens) on the scenes of reported streaking events: at the supermarket, the gas station, and the basketball playoffs. The reporter interviews a man (also Stevens) who responds with his views of what happened. The responses contain several double entendre

Double entendre

A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....

s, and the man tries to warn his wife, Ethel, not to look ("Don't look, Ethel!"), but is always too late. After the third interview, the man sees the streaker again, but to his horror the streaker is joined by his wife, and the man changes his tune: "Ethel, you shameless hussy!".http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzoUu7w-YM

Chart performance

Chart (1974)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	12
Canadian RPM Top Singles	1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
U.K. Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	2
Australian Singles Chart	2
Danish Singles Chart	26
German Media Control Charts	43