Half the Way

"Half the Way" is a song written by Ralph Murphy and Bobby Wood, and recorded by American country music artist Crystal Gayle. It was released in September 1979 as the first single from the album Miss the Mississippi.

"Half the Way"
Single by Crystal Gayle
from the album Miss the Mississippi
B-side"Room for One More"
ReleasedSeptember 1979
Recorded1978
GenreCountry pop, adult contemporary
Length4:03 (Album version) 3:32 (Single version)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Ralph Murphy, Bobby Wood
Producer(s)Allen Reynolds
Crystal Gayle singles chronology
"Your Kisses Will"
(1979)		 "Half the Way"
(1979)		 "It's Like We Never Said Goodbye"
(1980)

After achieving major Country crossover success in 1977 with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.", followed by a Top 20 Pop hit and No. 1 Country hit the next year ("Talking In Your Sleep"), Gayle attempted this new crossover piece of music.

After signing with Columbia Records in early 1979, Gayle immediately started recording for them. "Half the Way" was the first song recorded under her new record label. The song's up-tempo sound and Soft Rock-sounding melody, made the song reach Billboard's Top 20 chart, and even reaching the Top 15, peaking at No. 15 in 1979. The song also climbed to Billboard Magazine's No. 2 position on the Country charts,[1] just missing the top spot. Like Gayle's other previous recordings, the song also hit the Adult Contemporary chart. "Half the Way" is one of Gayle's better-known Adult Contemporary hits, reaching the Top 10 at No. 9. Following "Half the Way"'s success, Gayle never achieved another Top 40 Pop hit on her own again. Her singles did chart outside the Pop Top 40 though following this, and also the Adult Contemporary chart.

Chart performance
Chart (1979–1980) Peak
position
Canada RPM Country Tracks[2] 1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks 2
Canadian RPM Top Singles 56
South Africa (Springbok)[3] 4
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[4] 2
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[5] 9
US Billboard Hot 100[6] 15

References
  1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 131.
  2. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1979-12-08. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  3. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  4. "Crystal Gayle Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  5. "Crystal Gayle Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  6. "Crystal Gayle Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
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