The Best (song)

"The Best" is a song by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her seventh studio album, '' Hide Your Heart'' (1988). In the following year, the song was covered by Tina Turner for her seventh studio album, '' Foreign Affair''. The song was written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman.

Bonnie Tyler version

Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler recorded the original version of "The Best" for her seventh studio album '' Hide Your Heart'' in 1988. It was released as the album's lead single through CBS, and produced by Desmond Child.

"The Best" peaked at no. 10 in Norway, but did not make significant commercial gains elsewhere. Tyler stated that Tina Turner's subsequent success with the song restored her confidence in choosing recording material. She added that Turner "did it much better than I did".

Co-writer Holly Knight claimed that the song had first been offered to a male artist "whom headmired and had a silly crush on", but he declined.

Track listings

* European 7" single
# "The Best" – 4:15
# "The Fire Below" – 5:08

* Netherlands and UK 12" single
# "The Best" – 4:15
# "The Fire Below" – 5:08
# "Under Suspicion" – 4:24

* UK CD single
# "The Best" – 4:15
# "The Fire Below" – 5:08
# "Under Suspicion" – 4:24

Charts

Tina Turner version

In 1989, American singer and songwriter Tina Turner recorded a cover version of "The Best" for her seventh solo studio album, '' Foreign Affair'' (1989), with a saxophone solo played by Edgar Winter. Prior to recording the song, Tina Turner approached the songwriter Holly Knight and requested some changes: the addition of a bridge, which Turner felt was missing, and a key change.

Released as the lead single from ''Foreign Affair'' on 21 August 1989, the song was an international success, becoming a top-five hit in numerous countries. It is one of Turner's most recognizable tunes, often considered synonymous with the singer's name. The song was used in a Pepsi commercial featuring Turner, which also served as a promo for her Foreign Affair: The Farewell Tour sponsored by Pepsi. Additionally, the song was adopted by other brands for their advertising including Applebee's and T-Mobile, as well as the Australian rugby league competition the National Rugby League, for which it remains an iconic anthem more than 30 years after its release.

The song title is often colloquially mis-cited as "Simply the Best", reflecting a phrase in the chorus. This became so commonplace that the bracketed word 'Simply' was included in the titles for releases of some subsequent versions, and in the track listing for some Tina Turner compilation albums.

Critical reception

Bill Coleman from '' Billboard'' described the song as an "easy-paced pop offering which finds Turner's voice taking front and center stage." The Daily Vault's Mark Millan called it an "sing-along anthem". Pan-European magazine '' Music & Media'' stated that the singer's "dramatic range is fully utilised on this impressive and polished production (courtesy Dan Hartman and Turner)." A reviewer from ''People Magazine'' said it "features such pizza-box lyrics as "You're simply the best/ Better than all the rest/ Better than anyone/ Anyone I've ever met"." The reviewer also noted that Edgar Winter adds a saxophone solo "with bite". Pop Rescue called the song "flawless", adding that it was probably the fact that it's such a simple song that "helped it to become so widely popular."

Track listing

*Worldwide 7", cassette and CD single
#"The Best" (Edit) – 4:08
#"Undercover Agent for the Blues" – 5:17

*UK 7" limited single
#"The Best" (Edit) – 4:08
#"What's Love Got to Do with It" – 3:49

*European and UK CD and 12" single
#"The Best" – 5:28
#"Undercover Agent for the Blues" – 5:18
#"Bold and Reckless" – 3:47

*Australian 12" single
#"The Best" (Extended Mighty Mix) – 6:37
#"The Best" (Single Muscle Mix) – 4:17
#"The Best" (Extended Muscle Mix) – 5:28

*1993 Australian CD single
#"The Best" (Edit) – 4:09
#"The Best" (Extended Mighty Mix) – 6:37
#"The Best" (Single Muscle Mix) – 4:17
#"The Best" (Extended Muscle Mix) – 5:28

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Tina Turner and Jimmy Barnes version

In 1992, Turner recorded "(Simply) The Best", a duet version of the song with Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes, to promote that year's New South Wales Rugby League season in Australia. The single subsequently appeared on a limited edition bonus disc as part of the Australian release of her compilation album '' Simply the Best'' (1991).

Track listing

*Australian 7" single
#"(Simply) The Best" (Tina Turner and Jimmy Barnes) – 4:14
#"(Simply) The Best" (Extended Version) – 5:29

*Australian cassette and CD single
#"(Simply) The Best" (Tina Turner and Jimmy Barnes) – 4:14
#" River Deep, Mountain High" (Jimmy Barnes) – 3:37
#"I'm a Lady" (Tina Turner) – 3:24
#"(Simply) The Best" (Extended Version) – 5:29

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

"The Best" served as the theme song of Iceland's Best Party in the 2010 Reykjavik local council elections. Party members recorded a version of the song titled "Við erum best" ("We're the Best"), with lyrics describing the party in Icelandic.

In the mid-1990s, the Hong Kong Tourist Association produced a series of television advertisements featuring "The Best" as sung by Elisa Chan.

Research by Co-op Funeralcare regularly places "The Best" in the top ten most popular songs requested to be played at funerals.

"The Best" has appeared three times in the Canadian sitcom '' Schitt's Creek'', in scenes involving the characters David Rose and Patrick Brewer. In the season 4 episode "Open Mic", Noah Reid as Patrick performs an acoustic version of the song, which Reid arranged himself. After airing, Reid's version of the song was released on Spotify and iTunes, where it reached No. 1 on the Canadian charts. All proceeds from the single were donated to an Ontario charity, LGBT Youth Line. Later that season, in the episode "The Gesture", Dan Levy as David performs a dance routine while lip-synching to Turner's recording of the song. In the series finale, "Happy Ending", the Jazzagals (the a cappella group to which David's mother, Moira, belongs) perform an a cappella version of the song at David and Patrick's wedding.

In October 2021, Canadian multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter Billianne's acoustic cover went viral on TikTok, with 1.5M views, 265K likes, and 22K video creates to the sound, and garnered her a six-figure following.

In sport

The song is often used in sport-related contexts. It is played at Ibrox Stadium, Scotland, when the players of Rangers Football Club and the visiting team run onto the park. On 19 April 2010, Rangers FC fans began a campaign to get "The Best" to number one in the UK Singles Chart. It subsequently charted at number nine.

In the 1990s, Chris Eubank used "The Best" as both his nickname and entrance music before all of his world championship boxing matches.

Dutch association football club PSV Eindhoven play the Tina Turner version of the song when the team takes to the pitch ahead of every home match at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven. This was introduced by then-head coach Dick Advocaat and has since remained a club tradition.

The song is particularly associated with rugby league. In 1990, it was used for the NSWRL promotional campaign. After appearing in NSWRL's ad a year earlier (with " What You Get Is What You See"), Tina Turner was invited to Sydney, Australia, to shoot the 1990 campaign ads, in which she appears alongside rugby league players, and perform the song at that year's Grand Final. The campaign featuring Tina Turner and the song is considered one of the greatest campaigns in sports marketing, which helped changed the perception of rugby league as a sport turning what was essentially a suburban game popular with working-class men into entertainment for the whole family. Such is the enduring popularity of the song as the rugby league anthem that it was featured again in the 2020 promotional campaign of NRL, more than 30 years after its release.

Darts player Mensur Suljovic uses this as his walk-on music in darts.

Tina Turner sings "The Best" in homage to Ayrton Senna in her Australian concert in 1993. Since then, several mentions link the music to the car racer.

"The Best" by Tina Turner was played at the 2022 US Open for tennis player Serena Williams in her final game career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best, The
1989 singles
1992 singles
Tina Turner songs
Bonnie Tyler songs
Jimmy Barnes songs
Male–female vocal duets
Songs written by Mike Chapman
Songs written by Holly Knight
Rock ballads
Song recordings produced by Desmond Child
1988 songs
Columbia Records singles
Mushroom Records singles
Capitol Records singles
PSV Eindhoven songs
Rangers F.C. songs
Number-one singles in Scotland