"Call on Me" is a song co-written and produced by Swedish DJ and producer

Eric Prydz Eric Sheridan Prydz (, ; born 19 July 1976), also known by his many aliases including Pryda () and Cirez D (), is a Swedish DJ and music producer. He rose to fame with his 2004 hit single " Call on Me", and saw continued chart success with " Pr ...

. The song is based on a sample of

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his distin ...

's 1982 song " Valerie" from the album '' Talking Back to the Night''. "Call on Me" received significant sales success and topped several record charts. The song is known for its music video, which features several women (including Deanne Berry as the dance instructor) and a man performing

aerobics Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness ( flexibility, muscular strength, and cardio-vascular fitness). ...

in a sexually suggestive manner.

Background

"Call on Me" prominently features a sample of English singer-songwriter

's 1982 song " Valerie" from his album '' Talking Back to the Night''. French duo Together, consisting of

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

member Thomas Bangalter and producer

DJ Falcon Stéphane Quême (), (born January 2, 1973), known as DJ Falcon, is a French DJ, record producer and photographer. He is the brother of Delphine Quême (Quartet) and a cousin of Alan Braxe (Alain Quême). Career In 1999, Falcon released his firs ...

, had previously sampled "Valerie" as a live tool in a DJ set in 2002. Falcon stated that

Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publishing business and fitness studio. J ...

sent him a letter requesting that he release the track through the label. Despite the popularity and demand for it, Together did not consider it worth an official release. After the duo declined the request, Ministry of Sound would release the Prydz song without mention or credit to Together. When Prydz sampled "Valerie" in 2004 and presented his track to Winwood, he was so impressed with it that he re-recorded the original sampled vocals. Winwood later recalled, "I quite liked it, I think he did a good job, I mean it's not exactly my cup of tea but, I liked what he did technically with it which is why I agreed to work with him on it a little bit".

Commercial performance

The song reached number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

during a time when the chart was experiencing low sales due to the

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

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 17 October 2004. This record was broken once again by himself only a week later on 24 October 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 The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

at number one in early November 2004 and repeated this feat in Ireland. In Australia, "Call on Me" debuted and peaked at number two.

Music video

The music video for "Call on Me", directed by Huse Monfaradi, features an

class of women wearing 1980s styled aerobics outfits performing sexually suggestive gym routines. The class is led by Australian dancer and choreographer Deanne Berry, who is wearing a

leotard A leotard () is a unisex skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso from the crotch to the shoulder. The garment was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard (1838–1870). There are sleeveless, short-sleeved, and ...

– much to the enjoyment of the sole man in the group, played by Argentinian dancer/actor

Juan Pablo Di Pace Juan Pablo Di Pace (born 25 July 1979) is an Argentine actor and singer. He began his career in the United Kingdom, performing in a number of musicals and appearing in films like ''Survival Island'' (2005) and ''Mamma Mia!'' (2008). He later move ...

. The video was filmed at the Laban Dance Centre in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

, London, and imitates a scene from the 1985 film ''

Perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection, completeness, excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film * Perfect (1985 film), ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * Perfect (2018 f ...

'' starring

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom '' Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (1 ...

and

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

. 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 The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As moder ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of the ...

said: "The first time it came on, I nearly fell off my rowing machine."

Vice Media Vice Media Group LLC is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. , the Vice Media Group included five main business areas: VICE.com (digital content); VICE STUDIOS (film and TV production) VICE TV (also known as VICELAND); ...

via their Thump website would go on to call the video the "Sexiest Music Video of All Time". There are two versions—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 3 or Three is a global brand name owned by Hutchison 3G Enterprises S.A.R.L., under which several UMTS-based mobile phone networks and broadband internet providers operate in Hong Kong, Macau, Austria, Denmark, Indonesia, Ireland, Sweden, and ...

mobile phones with 3G technology in association with the ''

Rage Rage may refer to: * Rage (emotion), an intense form of anger Games * Rage (collectible card game), a collectible card game * Rage (trick-taking card game), a commercial variant of the card game Oh Hell * ''Rage'' (video game), a 2011 first-per ...

'' music television show.

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. On 8 January 2020, Ministry of Sound uploaded the DVD in its entirety to its YouTube channel. 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 Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...

's 1983 " Flashdance... What a Feeling". This video references the films ''

Flashdance ''Flashdance'' is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend ...

'', ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Housema ...

'', ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brookl ...

'' and '' Grease'' as evidenced by the featured dance, costumes and film posters in the video. In subsidiary roles as aerobics class members, the video features British dancers Laura More, Franky Wedge, Laura Jayne Smith, Rosy Hawkins and Laura Bowley. The video ranked number 5 in '' NME''s "50 Worst Music Videos Ever". In September 2014, eight Norwegian former and current cancer patients recreated the video to support the ''Aktiv mot Kreft'' foundation (Active Against Cancer, founded by Helle Aanesen and

Grete Waitz Grete Waitz (, 1 October 195319 April 2011) was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz wo ...

) and promote physical training for cancer patients. On 4 February 2020, the official Ministry of Sound YouTube channel uploaded an HD version of the "Late Night" video version.

Track listings

* Swedish, UK, and Australian CD single # "Call on Me" (radio edit) – 2:57 # "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs Retarded Funk Mix) – 7:36 # "Call on Me" (JJ Stockholm club mix) – 8:01 # "Call on Me" ( Filterheadz Remix) – 7:13 # "Call on Me" (Red Kult Dub Pass 2 Mix) – 7:50 * Swedish and UK DVD single # "Call on Me" (daytime version video) # "Call on Me" (late night version video) # "Call on Me" (radio edit audio) # "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs. Retarded Funk Mix audio) # Photo gallery * French CD single # "Call on Me" (radio edit) – 2:49 # "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs Retarded Funk Mix) – 7:33 * French DVD single # "Call on Me" (dirty version video) – 2:53 # "Call on Me" (clean version video) – 2:53 * UK 12-inch single :A1. "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs Retarded Funk Mix) :B1. "Call on Me" (Red Kult Dub Pass 2 Mix) :B2. "Call on Me" (Filterheadz Remix) * US 12-inch vinyl :A1. "Call on Me" (Eric Prydz vs Retarded Funk Mix) – 7:33 :A2. "Call on Me" (Filterheadz Remix) – 7:05 :B1. "Call on Me" (JJ Stockholm club remix) – 7:51 :B2. "Call on Me" (Red Kult Dub Pass 2 Mix) – 7:53

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2004 singles 2004 songs Data Records singles Eric Prydz songs European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Ministry of Sound singles Music video controversies Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Sweden SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Songs with lyrics by Will Jennings Songs written by Eric Prydz Songs written by Steve Winwood UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultra Music singles