Take Me Down

"Take Me Down"
Single by Alabama
from the album Mountain Music
B-side "Lovin' You Is Killin' Me"
Released May 6, 1982 (U.S.)
Format 7"
Recorded 1981
Genre Country
Length 3:43 (single edit)
4:53 (album version)
Label RCA 13210
Songwriter(s) Mark Gray, J.P. Pennington
Producer(s) Harold Shedd and Alabama
Alabama singles chronology
"Mountain Music"
(1982)		 "Take Me Down"
(1982)		 "Close Enough to Perfect"
(1982)

"Mountain Music"
(1982)		 "Take Me Down"
(1982)		 "Close Enough to Perfect"
(1982)

"Take Me Down" is a song recorded by American country music band Alabama. It was released in May 1982 as the second single from Alabama's album Mountain Music.

Written by Exile band members Mark Gray and J.P. Pennington, the song was originally recorded by Exile in the early 1980s. The Exile version was released as a single, but failed to become a hit, although it reached number 2 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100.[1]

However, it was not until Alabama released the song that it was the group's seventh number one on the country chart.[2] In addition to its success on the country charts, the song fared modestly well on pop radio, reaching No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3]

Single and album edits

The single edit to "Take Me Down," released for retail sale and radio airplay, is about 1:10 shorter than the full-length album version. Excised from the single version:

  • The second refrain; the song immediately proceeds from the second verse into the bridge.
  • An earlier fade during the ending harmony part (about 30 seconds earlier than the album version).

"B" side

The B-side to "Take Me Down" is a song titled "Lovin' You Is Killin' Me," a re-recording of one of Alabama's earliest songs. "Lovin' You Is Killin' Me" originally appeared as the B-side to the band's first charted single, 1977's "I Wanna Be With You Tonight."

Charts

Chart (1982) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[4] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[5] 18
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[6] 5
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks 1

Cover version

The song was covered in by soul singer Johnny Bristol the same year and released as the first single off his Free to Be Me album.

References

  1. ↑ Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 ( ISBN 0-82-307553-2)
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 18.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 22.
  4. ↑ "Alabama Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  5. ↑ "Alabama Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  6. ↑ "Alabama Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.

Works cited

  • Morris, Edward, "Alabama," Contemporary Books Inc., Chicago, 1985 ( ISBN 0809253062)
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