"The Doctor" is a hit single released by

The Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...

on their 1989 studio album, '' Cycles''. The song, to date, is the last hit single that the band has released; it reached the number 1 spot on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

mainstream rock chart Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in ...

and peaked at number 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 189. The song was released with a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

that features the band playing to the tune with all of the members present. The video also got significant airplay on the music video channels throughout the US and helped propel the song into the spotlight. Guitarist and founding member Tom Johnston sang the lead vocal, after returning from years of being out of the band after Michael McDonald took over in the mid-1970s. Johnston told Songfacts that he wrote most of the song before the band re-formed when he was in a band called Border Patrol.

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor, The 1989 singles The Doobie Brothers songs Songs written by Charlie Midnight Songs written by Tom Johnston (musician) Songs written by Eddie Schwartz Song recordings produced by Eddie Schwartz 1989 songs Capitol Records singles