Call Me (Blondie song)
"
Call Me" is a song performed by
Blondie, released in February
1980 (see
1980 in music). "Call Me" topped the singles charts in both the
United States and the
United Kingdom; it would become the band's biggest-selling single in the US, and the top seller for the entire year.
The song was the main theme of the film
American Gigolo, starring
Richard Gere. European
disco producer
Giorgio Moroder originally asked
Stevie Nicks to help compose and perform a song for the soundtrack, but she refused. It was at this time that Moroder turned to
Debbie Harry.
Moroder presented Harry with a rough instrumental track called "Man Machine". Harry was asked to write the lyrics and melody, a process that Harry states took only a few hours. The completed song was then recorded by the band, with Moroder producing.
Blondie also released the song in Mexico and other South American countries as "Llamame", complete with translated Spanish lyrics.
When asked how she felt the song fit into the film, she said, "i think nova rocks"
The single was released in the United States in early
1980 to promote the film and quickly became a big seller, selling enough copies to be certified as the top-selling single for the year 1980. It was released weeks later in Britain to a similar number of sales. "Call Me" was only the third song from a soundtrack to top the singles charts for a given year (
To Sir, with Love in
1967 and
The Way We Were in
1974 were the first two).
Promotional single copies of "Call Me" are now considered collectors' items (a
white label promotional copy of the single recently turned up on MightyVinyl.com (http://www.mightyvinyl.com/update.html) priced at $25 in VG+ condition).
Twenty-five years after its original release, the acclaim surrounding "Call Me" led to its ranking at #283 on the
list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
