Heads Carolina, Tails California

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"Heads Carolina, Tails California"
Jo DeeMessina - Heads Carolina single.png
Single by Jo Dee Messina
from the album Jo Dee Messina
B-side"Walk to the Light"
ReleasedJanuary 22, 1996
GenreCountry
Length3:29
LabelCurb
Songwriter(s)Tim Nichols
Mark D. Sanders
Producer(s)Byron Gallimore
Tim McGraw
Jo Dee Messina singles chronology
"Heads Carolina, Tails California"
(1996) 		"You're Not in Kansas Anymore"
(1996)
Music video
"Heads Carolina, Tails California" at CMT.com

"Heads Carolina, Tails California" is a song written by Tim Nichols and Mark D. Sanders and recorded by American country music artist Jo Dee Messina. The song was released in January 1996 as her debut single and served as the lead-off single for her self-titled debut album. The song reached the Top 10 on both the U.S. and Canadian country charts.

American Aquarium covered the song on their 2021 album Slappers, Bangers, and Certified Twangers: Vol 1.

Content[]

"Heads Carolina, Tails California" is an up-tempo song about a narrator who wants to just take her love and run off together somewhere, but anywhere will do as long as her love comes with her.

Critical reception[]

Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "rollicking country ode to flipping a coin and hitting the road in search of a better life 'somewhere greener, somewhere warmer.'" She goes on to say that "passion and energy permeate Messina's strong vocal attacks on this infectious tune."[1]

Music video[]

A music video was released for the song directed by Roger Pistole and filmed in the Mojave Desert. Messina is shown performing with an old-fashioned microphone in a run-down wooden shack in the desert and leaning against the counter of a diner, dressed as a waitress. Throughout the video are scenes of men traveling on an old dirt road pushing tires with them. They are seen sitting in the diner that Messina is seen in, and outside of a rural gas station in which the diner is located.

Chart performance[]

"Heads Carolina, Tails California" debuted at number 70 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of January 27, 1996.

Chart (1996) Peak
position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[2] 3
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[3] 11
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[4] 2

Year-end charts[]

Chart (1996) Position
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[5] 26
US Country Songs (Billboard)[6] 52

References[]

  1. ^ Billboard, February 3, 1996 - Vol. 108, No. 5
  2. ^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 2980." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. May 27, 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  3. ^ "Jo Dee Messina Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". Billboard.
  4. ^ "Jo Dee Messina Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  5. ^ "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1996". RPM. December 16, 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  6. ^ "Best of 1996: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1996. Retrieved July 20, 2013.

External links[]

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