Rock the Boat (The Hues Corporation song)

"Rock the Boat"
Single by The Hues Corporation
from the album Freedom for the Stallion
B-side "All Goin' Down Together"
Released May 1974
Format 12", 7"
Recorded 1973
RCA's Music Center of the World
(Hollywood, California)
Genre Soul, pop, disco
Length 3:22 (album version)
3:08 (single version)
Label RCA
Writer(s) Waldo Holmes
Producer(s) John Florez
Certification Gold (U.S.)
The Hues Corporation singles chronology
"Freedom for the Stallion"
(1973)		 "Rock the Boat"
(1974)		 "Rockin' Soul"
(1974)

"Rock the Boat" is a song by American disco group The Hues Corporation in 1974. "Rock the Boat" was written by Waldo Holmes, who also wrote the Blacula songs. "Rock the Boat" was first featured on The Hues Corporation's 1973 album, Freedom for the Stallion (a different edit version, which was the single, later appeared on certain editions of the band's follow-up album, 1974's Rockin' Soul).[1] It was released as the second single from the album in early 1974 to follow-up Stallion's title song, which had peaked at #63 on the Hot 100.

Initially, "Rock the Boat" appeared as though it would flop, as months went by without any radio airplay or sales activity. Not until the song became a disco/club favorite in New York did Top 40 radio finally pick up on the song, leading the record to finally enter the Hot 100 and zip up the chart to #1 the week of July 6, 1974, in only its seventh week on the chart (and fourth week in the Top 40). The record also reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom (number 6). "Rock the Boat" is considered one of the earliest disco songs. Some authorities proclaim it to be the first disco song to hit #1, while others give that distinction to "Love's Theme" by Love Unlimited Orchestra, a chart-topper from earlier in 1974. The song became a gold record. It is a heavy airplay favorite on oldie and adult-contemporary stations today.

Composition

The song features a lead vocal by Fleming Williams, who left The Hues Corporation shortly after the song was recorded. According to The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, the lone female member of the group, H. Ann Kelly, had originally been pegged to sing lead, but this idea was discarded out of fear that groups with female lead singers were less commercially viable. The bass player on the session was Wilton Felder, not James Jamerson as previously reported.

The Hues Corporation member St. Clair Lee claims "It was a song that you could do anything on. You could cuddle or you could get crazy if you wanted to. It was a love song without being a love song. But, it was a Disco hit and it happened because of the discos."[2]

The song features a change in meter during the pre-chorus "We've been sailing with a cargo full of love and devotion" where it is 7
4 for one measure while the rest of the song is in common time. The 'Rock the Boat' dance also a favourite at weddings and birthday parties and involves many people sitting down in a row and 'rowing' a boat to the tune of the song.

Samples and covers

"Rock the Boat" was covered in 1982 by the Dutch/American singer Forrest Thomas. His version also made the UK top five (number 4) and the top 10 of the American Dance/Disco chart. Jacob Miller and the Inner Circle cut a reggae version of the song in 1974.

There is a reference to the song's distinctive bridge in Jurassic 5 track "Concrete Schoolyard".

Singaporean band Lizard's Convention also covered the song in the 1990's.

Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band has said that "Rock The Boat" played a partial role in inspiring the hit "Rock Your Baby".[3] The song was also featured in the 1993 film Carlito's Way, the 1996 film The Cable Guy, the 1999 film Man on the Moon, the HBO series The Sopranos (Season 2, episode 5, Big Girls Dont Cry), commercial for M&M's, and (sung in character by Seth MacFarlane as Glenn Quagmire, Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson, and Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown) the Family Guy episode A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas.The song appeared in the 1997 movie The Devil's Own with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, and a short extract of the refrain ("Love is a ship on the ocean..") in the 2015 movie The Martian directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon.

One of the furthest reaches "Rock The Boat" has made has been on the Australian series Playschool in a program theme about water.[4]

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1974) Peak
position
Australia (KMR)[5] 18
Canada (RPM) Top Singles[6] 1
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[7] 6
US Billboard Hot 100[8] 1
U.S. Hot Soul Singles (Billboard)[9] 2
U.S. Hot Dance/Disco (Billboard) 5

Year-end charts

Chart (1974) Position
Australia [5] 127
Canada [10] 9
UK [11] 81
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[12] 43

References

External links

Preceded by
"Sundown" by Gordon Lightfoot		 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
July 6, 1974 (one week) 		Succeeded by
"Rock Your Baby" by George McCrae
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