"Call Me" is a song written and recorded by American singer Aretha Franklin. The song was co-produced by Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin.

Background

Franklin came up with the idea for the song after she saw a young couple engaged in deep conversation on New York's Park Avenue. Before they parted, Franklin heard them say to each other: "I love you... call me."^[1] With the exception of Franklin on piano, musical backing for "Call Me" was handled by members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

Chart performance

"Call Me" was released as a single in January 1970 from Aretha's This Girl's in Love with You album and became another hit for her, spending two weeks at number one on the US R&B Singles chart, while reaching number 13 on the Pop chart.^[2]

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of This Girl's in Love with You.^[3][4]

Main performance

• Aretha Franklin – vocals, acoustic piano, additional keyboards
• Brenda Bryant – background vocals
• Cissy Houston – background vocals
• Pat Lewis – background vocals

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

• Barry Beckett – electric piano, Hammond organ
• Roger Hawkins – drums
• Eddie Hinton – guitar
• David Hood – bass
• Jimmy Johnson – guitar

Production

• Ron Albert – engineer
• Tom Dowd – producer
• Chuck Kirkpatrick – engineer
• Arif Mardin – producer, arranger
• Jerry Wexler – producer

Cover versions

• Diana Ross's rendition of the song for her 1971 album Everything Is Everything.^[5] This version was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female R&B Vocal Category.
• In 1991, R&B singer Phil Perry recorded a version of this song for his album, The Heart of the Man, which reached number one on the Hot R&B Singles Chart.^[6]

Samples

• Danny! sampled it in 2004 for his song "When You Get There"
• Later in 2004, Kanye West also sampled it for Slum Village's hit "Selfish".