Give Me One Reason

"Give Me One Reason"
Single by Tracy Chapman
from the album New Beginning
B-side "The Rape of the World"
Released March 19, 1996
Format CD single
Recorded 1995
Genre Blues rock
Length 4:30 (album version)
4:07 (radio edit)
Label Elektra
Writer(s) Tracy Chapman
Certification Platinum (RIAA)
Tracy Chapman singles chronology
"Dreaming on a World"
(1992)		 "Give Me One Reason"
(1996)		 "New Beginning"
(1996)
Music sample
"Give Me One Reason"

"Give Me One Reason" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. It was released on her 1995 album New Beginning, and as a single in 1996, her first since 1992's "Dreaming on a World". It is also Chapman's biggest US hit to date, reaching #3 on the US Hot 100. Chapman also performed the song six years before its release, on the December 16, 1989 episode of Saturday Night Live. A music video was released to promote the single. Chapman earned the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for the track, that was also nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Female Rock Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1997. A well known version of this song featuring Eric Clapton was released in 1999 in the compilation album A Very Special Christmas Live.

Lyrics/style

The song is a classic twelve-bar blues, both in musical structure and the repeated lyrics in each verse and chorus. It is the story of an ending relationship, and a plea from the narrator to her partner for the partner to convince her to remain, to "give me one reason to stay here, and I'll turn right back around." At the end of the song, the partner is apparently given voice for the last line, "said I told you that I loved you, and there ain't no more to say."

Covers

The song was covered in 1996 by blues vocalist and harmonica player, Junior Wells, on his album Come On in This House.

Chapman performed the song in a duet with Eric Clapton which appeared on the 1999 album A Very Special Christmas Live.

It was also covered in 2006 by Hungarian blues band Someday Baby, on their album Backbone Move.

Isa Raja also performed this song on X Factor Indonesia season 1 in 2013.

This song is also covered by Joe Bonamassa & Robert Cray in the album "Lee Ritenour's 6 String Theory".

Kelly Clarkson covered the song on tour in 2012 and on Sirius XM's Hits1 in 2015.

Charts and certifications

Peak positions

Chart (1995-1997) Peak
position
Australia[1] 3
Canada[2] 1
New Zealand[3] 16
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 3
U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Adult Recurrents 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1996) Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[4] 6

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[5] Platinum 70,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[6] Gold 7,500*
United States (RIAA)[7] Platinum 1,100,000[8]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Australian Singles Chart peak
  2. ↑ Canada Singles Chart peak
  3. ↑ New Zealand Singles Chart peak
  4. ↑ "Billboard Top 100 - 1996". Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  5. ↑ Kent, David (2006). Australian Chart Book 1993-2005. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-45889-2.
  6. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Tracy Chapman – Give Me One Reason". Recorded Music NZ.
  7. ↑ "American single certifications – Chapman, Tracy – Give Me One Reason". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  8. ↑ "Best-Selling Records of 1996". Billboard (BPI Communications Inc.) 109 (3): 61. January 18, 1997. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 7, 2015.

External links

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