Tight Rope (song)

"Tight Rope"
"Tight Rope"
	Side A of the US single
Single by Leon Russell
from the album Carney
B-side	"This Masquerade"
Released	August 1972
Genre	Blue-eyed soul
Length	2:59
Label	Shelter 7325
Songwriter(s)	Leon Russell
Producer(s)	Denny Cordell; Leon Russell
Leon Russell singles chronology

"Tight Rope" is the debut 1972 hit single by singer-songwriter Leon Russell. It was the lead track on his LP, Carney.

The song reached number 11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[2] and number 10 on the Cash Box Top 100.^[3] In Canada, it reached number five.^[4]

This song is a circus metaphor about clinging to life while being on a high wire.

In the instrumental section, this song quotes a couple of times, a slow version of the "Entrance of the Gladiators" March, played in a mysterious descending scale, before Russell finishes the last half of the bridge section.

The B-side of 45 RPM for "Tight Rope" was "This Masquerade", also penned by Russell, which became a Top 10 hit for George Benson in 1976.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1972)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[5]	24
Canadian RPM Top Singles^[4]	5
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[2]	11
U.S. Cash Box Top 100^[3]	10

Year-end charts

Chart (1972)	Rank
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[6]	104

References

^ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (October 15, 1996). "Color Blind: Blue-eyed Soul". Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 42. ISBN 031214704X.
^ ^a ^b Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
^ ^a ^b "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles, October 28, 1972". Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.
^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 262. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
^ "1972 Year End". Bullfrogspond.com. Retrieved November 13, 2016.

External links

Leon Russell - Tight Rope on YouTube

This 1970s song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[Breithaupt_1996-1] Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (October 15, 1996). "Color Blind: Blue-eyed Soul". Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 42. ISBN 031214704X.

[ReferenceA-2] Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X

[cashbox-3] "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles, October 28, 1972". Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2017.

[canada-4] "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2016.

[aus-5] Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 262. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

[6] "1972 Year End". Bullfrogspond.com. Retrieved November 13, 2016.

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