"Call Me" is a song recorded and written by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

. The song was co-produced by Jerry Wexler

Jerry Wexler

Gerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...

, Tom Dowd

Tom Dowd

Tom Dowd was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multi-track recording method. Dowd worked on a virtual "who's who" of recordings that encompassed blues, jazz, pop, rock and soul records.- Early years :Born in Manhattan, Dowd grew...

 and Arif Mardin

Arif Mardin

Arif Mardin was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco, and country...

. 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

Park Avenue (Manhattan)

Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....

. Before they parted, Franklin heard them say to each other, "I love you, call me". With the exception of Franklin on piano, musical backing for "Call Me" was handled by members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers, are a group of American soul, R&B, and country studio musicians based in the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama...

. "Call Me" was released as a single in January 1970 from Aretha's This Girl's in Love with You

This Girl's in Love with You

This Girl's In Love With You is a 1970 album by Aretha Franklin. It reached Billboards Top 20 and was reissued on compact disc through Rhino Records in the 1990s....

album and became another hit for her, spending two weeks at number one on the US R&B Singles chart while reaching number thirteen on the Pop chart.

Cover versions

Diana Ross

Diana Ross

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...

' rendition of the song for her 1971 album Everything Is Everything was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female R&B Vocal Category. In 1991, R&B singer Phil Perry

Phil Perry

Phil Perry is an American R&B singer, songwriter, musician and a former member of the soul group The Montclairs from 1971 to 1975.- Biography :...

 recorded a version of this song for his album, The Heart of the Man. It also reached number one on the Hot R&B Singles Chart

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

. Also, Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

 sampled it for Slum Village

Slum Village

Slum Village was a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.The group was formed by three members: rappers Baatin and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla . J Dilla left in 2002 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records...

's moderate 2004 hit "Selfish".

See also

• R&B number-one hits of 1970 (USA)
  R&B number-one hits of 1970 (USA)
  These are the Billboard magazine R&B singles chart number one hits of 1970:See also: 1970 in music, List of number-one R&B hits -Chart comparisons:...
  
  
• R&B number-one hits of 1991 (USA)
  R&B number-one hits of 1991 (USA)
  These are the Billboard magazine R&B singles chart number one hits of 1991:-Chart history:-Chart comparisons:*Seven songs have reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "The First Time," "Gonna Make You Sweat ," "All the Man That I Need," "I Like the Way These are the Billboard magazine...