Call on Me (Eric Prydz song)

"Call on Me"
Single by Eric Prydz
Released	13 September 2004 (See release history)
Format	CD single, DVD single, 12" single, digital download
Recorded	2004
Genre	Nu-disco progressive house electro house
Length	2:52
Label	Ministry of Sound Data Ultra (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Eric Prydz, Steve Winwood, Will Jennings
Producer(s)	Eric Prydz
Eric Prydz singles chronology
"Slammin'" (2004) "Call on Me" (2004) "Woz Not Woz" (2005)
Audio sample file info · help

"Call on Me" is a song co-written and recorded by Swedish DJ and producer Eric Prydz. The single received massive sales success and topped several record charts. "Call on Me" is known for its music video, which features several women and a man performing aerobics in a sexually suggestive manner.

Background

"Call on Me" is a dance music track based on a sample of Steve Winwood's 1982 song "Valerie". When Prydz presented the track to him, Winwood was so impressed with what Prydz had done, that he re-recorded the vocals to fit the track better.^[1] DJ Falcon stated in an interview that he and Thomas Bangalter, as a duo called Together, had sampled "Valerie" years previously to create a similar song. Together's track was used in DJ sets with no intention to release it as a single despite demand from various outlets.^[2]

Music video

The music video for "Call on Me", directed by Huse Monfaradi, features an aerobics class of women wearing 1980s styled aerobics outfits performing sexually suggestive gym routines led by dancer and choreographer Deanne Berry, much to the enjoyment of the sole man in the group, played by Juan Pablo Di Pace. The video was filmed in the Laban Dance Centre in Deptford, England and spoofs a scene in the 1985 film Perfect starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis.^[3]

In late-2004, while being interviewed by Chris Evans for UK Radio Aid, a 12-hour fundraising broadcast for tsunami victims, the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair said: "The first time it came on, I nearly fell off my rowing machine."^[4] Vice Media via their Thump website would go on to call the video the "Sexiest Music Video of All Time"^[5] There are two videos — an edited one shown in daylight hours and a late night version which is uncut and features the dancers rubbing their breasts and one dancer slapping her buttocks.

The video was the highest-downloaded music video of all time in Australia, downloaded over 35,000 times through 3 Mobile mobile phones with 3G technology in association with the Rage music television show. Ministry of Sound presented the 3 Mobile phone provider with the mobile equivalent of a gold record in April 2005.

Due to the popularity and high demand for the video, a feature length aerobics DVD was later released, titled Pump It Up – The Ultimate Dance Workout, which featured the dancers from the "Call on Me" video performing aerobics routines to various popular dance music songs.

In 2006, as tribute to the "Call on Me" video, a sequel was created with the same principal dancers in "The Hughes Corporation" house remix of Irene Cara's 1983 "Flashdance... What a Feeling".^[6][7] This video references the films Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, Saturday Night Fever and Grease as evidenced by the featured dance, costumes and film posters in the video.

The first video features Australian dancer Deanne Berry, British dancers Laura More, Franky Wedge, Laura Jayne Smith, Rosy Hawkins, Laura Bowley and Argentine dancer Juan Pablo Di Pace.^[8] The second video features only Deanne Berry and Juan Pablo Di Pace from the first. The video received further tabloid attention in 2011 when it emerged dancer Laura Jayne Smith was the sister of the then-new Doctor Who actor Matt Smith.^[9]

The video became #5 in NME's "50 Worst Music Videos Ever".^[10]

In September 2014, 8 Norwegian former and current cancer patients recreated the video^[11] to support the Aktiv mot Kreft^[12] foundation (Active Against Cancer, founded by Helle Aanesen and Grete Waitz) and promote physical training for cancer patients.

Commercial performance

The song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart at a time when the chart was experiencing low sales, due to the CD single facing increasing competition from the digital download which at the time was not an eligible format in the chart. Until January 2005, Eric Prydz held the record for selling the lowest number of singles for a number-one chart position in the United Kingdom in any particular week: "Call on Me" sold 23,519 copies when it returned to the top of the charts on October 17, 2004. This record was broken once again by himself only a week later on October 24, 2004, with the single selling 21,749 copies that week. Nevertheless, it was the fourth biggest selling single of 2004 in the United Kingdom, selling 335,000 copies that year - including a DVD single with the uncut video - and staying five weeks at number-one on the UK Singles Chart, the longest run of any single that year.

The song entered the German singles chart at number one in early November 2004, and also repeated this feat in the Republic of Ireland. In Australia, "Call on Me" debuted and peaked at #2.

Track listings and formats

CD single

1. "Call on Me" (Radio Edit) –2:51
2. "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs. Retarded Funk Mix) –7:34

CD maxi single

1. "Call on Me" (Radio Edit) –2:51
2. "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs. Retarded Funk Mix) –7:34
3. "Call on Me" (JJ Stockholm Club Mix) –7:51
4. "Call on Me" (Filterheadz Remix) –7:07
5. "Call on Me" (Red Kult Dub Pass 2 Mix) –7:53
6. "Call on Me" (Video) (Dirty Version)

DVD single

1. "Call on Me" (Video - Daytime Version)
2. "Call on Me" (Video - Late Night Version)
3. "Call on Me" (Radio Edit) –2:51
4. "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs. Retarded Funk Mix) –7:34
5. Photo Gallery

Digital download

1. "Call on Me" (Radio Edit) –2:51
2. "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs. Retarded Funk Mix) –7:34

Non-Album singles

1. "Call on Me" (Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso Remix) - 6:53

Release history

Charts and certifications

Achievements

References