Help Me (Joni Mitchell song)
| "Help Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Joni Mitchell | ||||
| from the album Court and Spark | ||||
| B-side | "Just Like This Train" | |||
| Released | March 1974 | |||
| Recorded | 1973 | |||
| Genre | Folk jazz | |||
| Length | 3:22 | |||
| Label | Asylum | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
| Producer(s) | Joni Mitchell | |||
| Joni Mitchell singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Help Me" is a love song written, produced, and performed by Joni Mitchell, from her 1974 album Court and Spark. The song was recorded with jazz band Tom Scott's L.A. Express as the backing band.[1] "Help Me" was Mitchell's biggest hit single: it peaked at #7 in June 1974 on the Billboard Hot 100, her only top 10 hit; it hit #1 on the easy listening chart.[2]
Critical reception
The song is ranked #288 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[3]
Covers
Artists who have recorded cover versions of the song include:
- Wynonna (on the 2000 album New Day Dawning)
- Mandy Moore (on her 2003 covers album Coverage)
- k.d. lang (on the 2007 tribute album A Tribute to Joni Mitchell)
- Katharine McPhee (on the iTunes deluxe edition of her 2010 album Unbroken)
- Will Young (recorded live in London as the B-side to his 2009 single Let It Go)
- Esperanza Spalding sang "Help Me" in her encores on the d plus evolution tour spring and summer 2015.
In popular culture
The Prince song "Ballad of Dorothy Parker" (from his 1987 album Sign o' the Times) mentions the song in the lyrics. A reference to "Help Me" - "Joni, help me; I think I'm falling" - can also be heard in "Looking Through Patient Eyes" by P.M. Dawn.
In the show South Park, the character Butters briefly sings this song in episode 2 of season 11, "Cartman Sucks". In the sixth season of TV series Shameless main character Frank Gallagher and his lover Queenie sing during breakfast the first half of the song.
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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See also
References
- ↑ "Help Me by Joni Mitchell Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
- 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 172.
- ↑ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". RollingStone.com. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
- ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
- ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 6/15/74". Tropicalglen.com. 1974-06-15. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
- ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
- ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
- ↑ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1974". Tropicalglen.com. 1974-12-28. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
