"Lift Me Up" is a song by American

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

musician

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

. It was released as the first single from his seventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, ''

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

'' (2005), on February 28, 2005. It achieved success in many countries, including Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, and Spain, where it was a top ten hit.

Background

Moby claims to have written the song in 2004 after the re-election of President George W. Bush, adding that it reflected his consideration to emigrate to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

in protest. Moby has stated that the theme of the song is about the rise of global intolerance and fundamentalism. The word "Ama" in the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

(''"lift me up, higher now, Ama"''), that was often misheard and vastly misinterpreted, was meant to sound like a name of an unspecific

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

. According to Moby, it was based on the "ah" sound that commonly appears in the

names of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word '' god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or spec ...

in many languages. This song originally was to be sung with

The Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasi ...

's singer

Andrew Eldritch Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the frontman and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene, ...

and is partly inspired by that band's material.

Use in media

In 2005, the song was used as an outro for Australia's ''

Nine's Wide World of Sports ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'' is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television that airs on the Nine Network and streaming service Stan. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this br ...

'' coverage; in Italy, in a commercial for

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

; and on

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

coverage from 2006 to 2008. This was remixed with a variety of sounds to give it a faster pace. The song was featured in the racing game '' Asphalt: Urban GT 2'' for N-Gage and

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in t ...

, and was used in the Beatmania series of rhythm games. The track was also the theme for Discovery Quest's Expedition Borneo on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

in February 2007. As well, the song was featured in the thirteenth episode of the third season of ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

''.

Track listings

* CD single # "Lift Me Up" – 3:08 # "Mulholland" – 8:31 * CD single # "Lift Me Up" – 6:44 # "Lift Me Up" – 6:51 # "Lift Me Up" – 7:10 # "Lift Me Up" – 3:22 # "Lift Me Up" – 3:11 :Contains bonus Digimpro remix software * 12-inch single # "Lift Me Up" – 6:44 # "Lift Me Up" – 6:51 # "Lift Me Up" – 7:10 * Digital single # "Lift Me Up" – 3:08 # "Mulholland" – 8:31 # "Lift Me Up" – 6:44 # "Lift Me Up" – 6:51 # "Lift Me Up" – 7:10 # "Lift Me Up" – 3:17

Personnel

– vocals, instrumentation, writing, engineering, production *

Brian Sperber Brian Sperber is a rock producer/sound engineer/mixer. He has spent the bulk of his career at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. After years as an audio engineer for artists as varied as Whitney Houston, Patti Smith, De La Soul, and Ozzy Os ...

– engineering, mixing * Scott Frassetto – drums * Brian Sperber – backing vocals * Jason Candler – backing vocals * Kurt Uenala – backing vocals * Orion Simprini – backing vocals * Shayna Steele – backing vocals * Graphic Therapy and NYC – artwork * Danny Clinch – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2005 singles 2005 songs Moby songs Mute Records singles Songs written by Moby