If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)

"If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)"
Single by Rodney Atkins
from the album If You're Going Through Hell
Released January 9, 2006 (2006-01-09)
Format CD single, Music download
Recorded 2005
Genre Country
Length 3:33
Label Curb
Writer(s) Sam Tate, Annie Tate, Dave Berg
Producer(s) Ted Hewitt
Rodney Atkins singles chronology
"Monkey in the Middle"
(2004)
"If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)"
(2006)
"Watching You"
(2006)

"If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" is a song written by Dave Berg, Sam Tate and Annie Tate, and recorded by American country music artist Rodney Atkins. It was released in January 2006 as the lead-off single to his second album If You're Going Through Hell. The song became a number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, spending four weeks at the top, in addition to reaching the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. "If You're Going Through Hell" was named the number-one song of 2006 on the Billboard's year-end chart.

Content

The title was inspired by two quotes: one from Winston Churchill ("If you're going through Hell, keep going.") and the other, an old Irish toast ("May you be in Heaven five minutes before the devil knows you're dead").[1]

Music video

The music video was directed by Eric Welch. It starts out with Rodney Atkins's car tearing up, and he winds up walking on the road with a string of bad luck throughout the video, like losing his luggage when he throws it in the back of someone's car which winds up taking off on him. The video features Atkins's band and Atkins singing the song under an old gas station sign.

Chart performance

"If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" debuted at #53 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of January 21, 2006.

Chart (2006) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[2] 33
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[3] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (2006) Position
US Country Songs (Billboard)[4] 1

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[5] Platinum 1,000,000^

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

References

  1. Horner, Alanna (2006). "Story Behind the Song: "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)"". Country Weekly 13 (19): 64.
  2. "Rodney Atkins – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Rodney Atkins. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  3. "Rodney Atkins – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Rodney Atkins. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  4. "Best of 2006: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2005. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  5. "American single certifications – Rodney Atkins – If You're Going Through Hell". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 31, 2016. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH

External links

Preceded by
"The World"
by Brad Paisley
Billboard Hot Country Songs
number-one single

August 12-September 2, 2006
Succeeded by
"Leave the Pieces"
by The Wreckers
Preceded by
"That's What I Love About Sunday"
by Craig Morgan
Billboard Hot Country Songs
number-one single of the year

2006
Succeeded by
"Watching You"
by Rodney Atkins
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, March 31, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.