"Save Me" is a country-influenced pop song written by

Guy Fletcher Guy Edward Fletcher (born 24 May 1960) is an English musician, best known for his position as one of the two keyboard players in the rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his subsequent work with Dire Straits fron ...

and Doug Flett. It was originally recorded in 1976 by Northern Irish singer

Clodagh Rodgers Clodagh Rodgers (5 March 1947 – 18 April 2025) was a Northern Irish singer, best known for her hit singles including " Come Back and Shake Me", "Goodnight Midnight" and "Jack in the Box" and albums including '' You Are My Music'', ''It's Diff ...

, for her album of the same title, and released as a single. The song's narrator describes feeling bored and out of place at a party, and slipping out with the only man she is attracted to. Rodgers's recording was featured on Top of the Pops on 6 January 1977, unusually for the show, prior to charting, with the evident expectation of doing so. However, UK chart success eluded this version, although it did chart at number 21 in Capital Radio's Top 30 London chart. Also two versions released in the US the following year appeared in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine. A recording of the song by

Merrilee Rush Merrilee Rush ( Gunst; January 26, 1944) is an American singer, best known for her recording of the song " Angel of the Morning", a top-10 hit which earned her a Grammy nomination for female vocalist of the year in 1968. Early life and caree ...

debuted on the magazine's

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

in the issue dated June 11, 1977, and reached number 54 during its seven weeks there. Her version also had a two-week run to number 49 on the magazine's

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

chart that began the following month, in the issue dated July 2. That same issue also marked the first appearance of a recording of the song by Donna McDaniel that made it to number 90

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

over the course of five weeks. In 1977 in Sweden Brian Chapman's version of "Save Me" entered the charts at number 12 and reached a high of number 5 on the Swedish Charts in February 1978, and held a number 5 position for a total of 2 weeks, making his version of the song, the highest-charting hit version to date. The song remained in the Swedish charts for a total of 10 weeks. The same year,

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

released a French-language version ''Sauve-moi'' with unrelated lyrics written by

Didier Barbelivien Didier René Henri Barbelivien (; born 10 March 1954 in Paris) is a French author, lyricist, songwriter and singer. Beginning in the 1970s, he wrote a number of successful songs for artists such as: Dalida, Johnny Hallyday, Michel Sardou, Danie ...

. This version charted at 19 in France and number one in the Canadian province of Quebec. In 1979 the South African group Clout reached the top ten with the song in South Africa and other countries. And in 1981 Australian-American

Helen Reddy Helen Maxine Reddy (25 October 194129 September 2020) was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on ra ...

recorded it for her album '' Play Me Out''. "Save Me" was covered again in 1983 by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Louise Mandrell Thelma Louise Mandrell (born July 13, 1954) is an American country music music artist (occupation), singer. She is the younger sister of fellow country singer Barbara Mandrell, and older sister of musician Irlene Mandrell. Louise had a successfu ...

. It was released in February as the second single from her album ''Close Up'', and Mandrell's then-husband, R.C. Bannon, is credited as a co-writer for rewriting the verses on her version. The song reached number six on ''Billboards

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart and was also her first ''Billboard'' top 10 single.

Chart performance

References

1983 singles Louise Mandrell songs Songs written by R.C. Bannon RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Eddie Kilroy Songs written by Guy Fletcher (songwriter) Songs written by Doug Flett 1976 songs {{1983-country-song-stub