"The Tide Is High" is a 1967 song written by John Holt and performed by The Paragons with John Holt as lead singer. Although originally released as an A-side in Jamaica on the Treasure Isle label it was relegated to the B-side of the "Only a Smile" single for UK release a few months later.

The song features the violin of "White Rum" Raymond and was popular in Jamaica and became popular amongst West Indians and skinheads in the UK when a deejay version by U-Roy was released in 1971. The song went mainly unnoticed in the rest of the world until it was rediscovered in 1980 when it became a US/UK no.1 hit for the band Blondie. The British girl group Atomic Kitten also had a no.1 with their version of the song in 2002.

"The Tide Is High" was covered by US New Wave band Blondie in 1980, in a reggae/ska style that included horns and strings. It was released as a single, and appeared on the band's fifth album, Autoamerican. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and was popular outside the USA, reaching number one on the UK singles chart, number four in Australia, and number fifteen in the former West Germany. It was the last UK number one single for the band until "Maria" in 1999. The B-side of "The Tide is High" was "Suzie and Jeffrey", which appeared as a bonus track on the original 1980 cassette edition of the album Autoamericanand was also included on EMI-Capitol's re-issue of Autoamericanin 2001.

Official remixes of the Blondie version have been issued twice. First by Coldcut in 1988 on the Blondie/Debbie Harry remix compilation Once More into the Bleachand the second time in 1995 by Pete Arden and Vinny Vero on the album Remixed Remade Remodeled - The Remix Project(UK edition: Beautiful - The Remix Album).

In November 1980, the song was played on radio stations across the state of Alabama in anticipation of a football game between University of Alabama, whose nickname is the Crimson Tide, and the University of Notre Dame.

In 1981, Swedish singer Siw Inger recorded a German language version of the song. Although the lyrics are not a direct translation, the vocal and instrumental arrangements are virtually identical.

In 1984, Nigerian singer Onyeka Onwenu covered the song for the album In the Morning Light. A year later, parts of this song were taken and used as a sample for Bryan Adams' "Reggae Christmas".

In 2000, "The Tide Is High" was covered by singer-turned-actress Billie Piper for her second album, Walk of Life. It was due for release in early 2001. However, according to Piper's autobiography, Growing Pains, she told Virgin Records (her record label), not to bother releasing "The Tide Is High" as a single because she was worn out and didn't want to sing anymore after appearing in court against a woman named Juliet Peters who had given Piper, her friends and her family numerous death threats.

This time, the song was remade with keyboards to make it more pop-oriented. Their version of the song also added a new bridge, hence the subtitle "Get the Feeling". The song reached number one in the UK in September, 2002. The full song was played during the opening credits of The Lizzie McGuire Movie (the album version was used in the movie, however, the version on the soundtrack had slightly different lyrics), and was used for a TV commercial for Japanese beer company, Asahi Breweries. There are two versions of the single.

Groove Brothers Radio Edit was also made. The mix clocks in at (3:20)

"Numba 1 (Tide Is High)" is the latest version of "The Tide Is High", performed by Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall featuring Keri Hilson. Produced by Supa Dups, the song – a percussive, dancehall-infused hip hop update – was released in September 2008 as the fourth single from his fourth album Not 4 Sale. It was released on iTunes on October 14, 2008.

Aside from the album version, which features Rihanna, there are three other versions of "Numba 1 (Tide Is High)". The second is the original version, featuring Nicole Scherzinger. The third version features Rihanna and Nicole Scherzinger. The fourth version is the official single and features Keri Hilson. There is also a mash-up version which features Rihanna, Nicole Scherzinger and Keri Hilson.

The music video premiered on October 24 at Yahoo! Music. The video is directed by Gil Green, and Akon makes a cameo appearance. The song "Nina" is featured at the end of the video.

12" single

7" single

Rihanna and Nicole Scherzinger versions