Fontella Bass, Rescue Me | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 96^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on the 60s soul classic, “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 96^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on the 60s soul classic, 🎵 “Rescue Me”, performed by 🎙 Fontella Bass.

“Rescue me / Or take me in your arms / Rescue me / I want your tender charms.” One song solidified the musical legacy of 🎙 Fontella Bass (1940 – 2012): 🎵 “Rescue Me”.  The soul classic earned Bass her sole top-10 hit.  Ultimately, “Rescue Me” peaked at no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965.  Her next highest charting single on the pop charts? 🎵 “Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing” (with 🎙 Bobby McClure), which peaked at no. 33. “Rescue Me,” hence, is special – that once in a lifetime song.  It was written by 🎼 ✍ Carl William Smith and Raynard Miner while 🎛 Billy Davis served as the producer.

So, why did Bass need rescuing? “I need you and your love too.” As is the case with many R&B/soul records, matters of the heart fuel the fire.  Fontella is lonely, and she wants him to save her.  “Come on and take my heart,” she sings in the second verse, “Take your love and conquer every part.” The chorus sums it up perfectly:

“Come on baby, and rescue me

Come on, baby, and rescue me

‘Cause I need you by my side

Can’t you see that I’m lonely?

Rescue me.”

🎵 “Rescue Me” is #ICONIC.  Hearing this nearly sixty-old gem from 💿 The New Look never gets old.  No, R&B and pop don’t sound like this anymore but, this song right here, it endures.

🎙 Fontella Bass • 💿 The New Look • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 📅 1966

Fontella Bass, “Rescue Me” : Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 96 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]