Rescue Me (Madonna song)

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"Rescue Me"

Single by Madonna
from the album The Immaculate Collection
B-side(s)	"Spotlight" (Europe)
Released	February 27, 1991
Format	CD maxi, 12" maxi
Recorded	1990
Genre	Pop, Dance
Length	5:31
Label	Sire Records Warner Bros. Records WEA International
Writer(s)	Madonna Shep Pettibone
Producer(s)	Madonna Shep Pettibone
Certification	Gold (US)
Chart positions
#3 (Europe, UK) #4 (Canada) #9 (US) #11 (Japan, Switzerland) #12 (Italy) #15 (Austria) #21 (France, Germany) #68 (Ireland)
Madonna singles chronology
"Justify My Love" (1990)	"Rescue Me" (1991)	"This Used to Be My Playground" (1992)
The Immaculate Collection track listing
"Justify My Love" (16)	"Rescue Me" (17)

"Rescue Me" is the title of the second international single released from Madonna's first greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.

[edit] Song information

Cover of the 1991 Rescue Me U.K. single cover and standard and promotional vinyl cover.

Originally, Madonna didn't want to release "Rescue Me" as a single. Radio stations played the cut anyway and it reached the top 5 in airplay. However, by the time the single was commercially available, the song had already peaked at radio and placed a disappointing #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

"Rescue Me" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles survey at #15 the week of March 2, 1991, and was one of the first singles in the 1990s that would debut at such a high position due to heavy pre-sales airplay. Artists like Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, and Whitney Houston would follow in this trend of releasing singles at moments of peak airplay throughout the 1990s. "Rescue Me"'s debut was the highest single debut on the Hot 100 at the time of its release - ever - and the highest debut since Michael Jackson debuted at #20 the week of February 11, 1984 with "Thriller".

The UK release was delayed until April 1991 due to the February release of "Crazy for You (Remix)" (the cover of which was much the same as that for the US/international release of "Rescue Me").

The UK-only and subsequently much sought after release of "Rescue Me" which featured a different cover picture debuted in the top five and peaked at #3. Bizarrely, a video of live footage clips from her Who's That Girl Tour, four years previously, was used to promote the single.

Like fellow Immaculate single, "Justify My Love", "Rescue Me" finds Madonna mostly speaking her vocals rather than singing them, a style that she continued into her next album Erotica.