COMMENTS

quoted from the book 'Deborah Harry: Platinum Blonde - A Portrait By Cathay Che' - 1999

"1980 continued on a high note with disco maven Gorgio Moroder asking Blondie to do the theme song for a new Paul Schrader movie, American Gigolo. Moroder had first offered the song to Stevie Nicks, but after she declined, he called to offer it to Harry. It was their first job as guns to hire, and the effort would produce Blondie's biggest hit of all time - 'Call Me.' The title of the song was copped from the movie's gigolo antihero, played by Richard Gere. Harry liked the movie a lot, but rejected Moroder's lyrics ideas and rewrote the song herself. 'Call Me' was then recorded in two days in New York, incorporating a synthesizer track Moroder had made in LA. 'Call Me' became Blondie's second number one single in the US, and Billboard's number one song of the year."

source: wikipedia.org

"The song was the main theme of the film 'American Gigolo', starring Richard Gere. European disco producer Giorgio Moroder originally asked Stevie Nicks to help compose and perform a song for the soundtrack, but she refused. It was at this time that Moroder turned to Debbie Harry. Moroder presented Harry with a rough instrumental track called 'Man Machine.' Harry was asked to write the lyrics and melody, a process that Harry states took only a few hours. The completed song was then recorded by the band, with Moroder producing.

Blondie also released the song in Mexico and other South American countries as 'Llámame', complete with translated Spanish lyrics.

The single was released in the United States in early 1980 to promote the film and quickly sold enough copies to be certified as the top-selling single for the year. It was released weeks later in Britain to a similar volume of sales.

Twenty-five years after its original release, the acclaim surrounding 'Call Me' led to its ranking at #283 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."