"Save Me" | |
---|---|
Single by Aimee Mann | |
from the album Magnolia: Music from the Motion Picture | |
Released | 1999 |
Genre | Contemporary folk |
Length | 4:35 |
Label | Reprise |
Songwriter(s) | Aimee Mann |
Producer(s) | Aimee Mann |
"Save Me" is a song by the American songwriter Aimee Mann. It appears on the Magnolia soundtrack, which was released on December 7, 1999.
Reception
"Save Me" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song;[1] Mann performed it at the 72nd Academy Awards.[2] It lost to "You'll Be in My Heart", by Phil Collins, from the Disney movie Tarzan. By way of introduction to a live performance, Mann has referred to "Save Me" as "the song that lost an Oscar to Phil Collins and his cartoon monkey love song."[3] "Save Me" was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[1]
In 2022, Pitchfork named "Save Me" the 193rd best song of the 1990s. The critic Eric Torres wrote: "Subtly informed by a long period of disappointment, 'Save Me' is wry but surefooted ... The featherlight production and songwriting belie its inevitable punch: Here, Mann underscores the raw tenderness that comes with searching for help."[4]
Mann later said the song "really gave a blood transfusion to my career. But it wasn't like I went from playing to five people to 5,000 people. It was just a real influx of energy."[5] The song was written about Dave Foley, according to a 2012 interview with him.[6]
Music video
The music video, shot during the filming of Magnolia, was directed by the film's director, Paul Thomas Anderson, and uses many of the film's actors, including Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Cruise, William H. Macy, and John C. Reilly. The video inserts Mann into various scenes from the film as she performs the song. Unlike many such music videos, the "Save Me" video used no digital manipulation; the scenes were shot at the end of filming days with Mann and actors who were asked to stay in place.
References
- 1 2 McLevy, Alex. "Aimee Mann got cinematic with the gorgeous Magnolia soundtrack". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
- ↑ Berman, Judy (17 November 2019). "Aimee Mann: Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
- ↑ "Concert Review: Austin City Limits Music Festival 2006 - Day Two". Blogcritics.org. 2006-09-19. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
- ↑ "The 250 Best Songs of the 1990s". Pitchfork. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
- ↑ Doug Bleggi (November 21, 2018). "'Til Today: 25 years after her solo debut, Aimee Mann looks back". Stereogum. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
- ↑ "Theft of the Dial: Dave Foley". www.thecurrent.org. Retrieved 2023-10-27.