Tell Me Baby

"Tell Me Baby"
Single by Red Hot Chili Peppers
from the album Stadium Arcadium
B-side "A Certain Someone"
"Mercy Mercy"
Released July 17, 2006
Format CD single, 7" vinyl
Recorded March - December 2005 at The Mansion in Los Angeles
Genre Funk rock, alternative rock
Length 4:07
Label Warner Bros.
Writer(s) Flea, Frusciante, Kiedis, Smith
Producer(s) Rick Rubin
Red Hot Chili Peppers singles chronology
"Dani California"
(2006)		 "Tell Me Baby"
(2006)		 "Snow (Hey Oh)"
(2006)
Music video
"Tell Me Baby" on YouTube

"Tell Me Baby" is a song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' ninth studio album Stadium Arcadium. The song was released as the follow-up to the hit single "Dani California" on July 17, 2006.[1] The single was not as successful as their prior single "Dani California" nor their next single "Snow (Hey Oh)" as far as chart success, but did reach number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart and remained there for four weeks making it the band's second straight number one on that chart from Stadium Arcadium and tenth number one overall.

Composition

"Tell Me Baby" incorporates both the old funk rock sound from their Blood Sugar Sex Magik days in the verses of the song, and the chorus focuses on the more melodic sound found on more recent Chili Peppers albums. The song is about the dreams of pilgrims in Los Angeles who wants to obtain fame and fortune.[1]

Reception

Nick Mitchell at The Skinny gave the song three out of five stars, stating "Neither particularly complex nor memorable, "Tell Me Baby" is nevertheless an upbeat little number that may well ingratiate itself on your eardrums."[2]

Music video

The music video for "Tell Me Baby" was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, a directing duo that has worked on many other Chili Peppers videos. Flea said, "It's the best [video] we ever did."[3] For the video, Dayton and Faris interviewed and auditioned people who originally came to California to achieve some sort of fame and people who play music just for the sake of playing music. During the callback for the auditioned people, their second audition was filmed and the members of the Chili Peppers surprisingly entered the room during auditions to join in playing along. The music video for "Tell Me Baby" is to represent how awkward auditions are and how hard it is to make it in the music business.

Censorship

The album version of the song contains the line "life can be a little shitty"; the radio and video version of the song replaces "shitty" with "kitty". It was uncensored in Rock Band.

Formats and track listings

CD version 1 5439 15673-2
  1. "Tell Me Baby" – 4:07
  2. "A Certain Someone" – 2:25
CD version 2 9362 42956-2
  1. "Tell Me Baby" – 4:07
  2. "Mercy Mercy" – 4:01
  3. "Lyon 06.06.06" (Live) – 3:53
7" Picture Disc 5439 15973-2
  1. "Tell Me Baby" – 4:07
  2. "Mercy Mercy" – 4:01

Chart performance

Chart (2006) Peak
position
ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart 20
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart 17
Czech Singles Chart 7
Dutch Top 40 18
Polish Singles Chart[4] 5
Slovak Singles Chart 17
UK Singles Chart 16
US Billboard Hot 100 50
US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 1
US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 8
US Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks 22
Venezuela Pop Rock (Record Report)[5] 1

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The 15 Best Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs". PopMatters. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Red Hot Chili Peppers - Tell Me Baby". Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  3. ↑ Michael Balzary (2006-06-05). "Fleamail June 4, 2006". Redhotchilipeppers.com. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  4. ↑ "Polish Singles Chart |".
  5. ↑ "Pop Rock" (in Spanish). Record Report. 2006-08-19. Archived from the original on 2006-11-24.
Preceded by
"Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace		 Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
September 23, 2006- October 14, 2006 		Succeeded by
"When You Were Young" by The Killers