"Help Me" by Marcy Levy & Robin Gibb

Song#:  0391
Date:  11/08/1980
Debut:  87
Peak:  50
Weeks:  10
Genre:  Pop, Soundtrack



Pop Bits:  This track, co-written and co-produced by BeeGee Robin Gibb, found its way onto the soundtrack for the film "Times Square." The film, about two young runaways living in NYC, was not a hit with critics or at the box office. However, the double-LP soundtrack that mixed important new wave and punk artists of the era did much better peaking at #37. Featuring songs by The Pretenders, Roxy Music, XTC, Joe Jackson, The Ramones, and others, the soundtrack became a bit of a cult hit and outlasted the film itself. This lone pop single was the one promoted and the duet made it halfway up the chart. It was Levy's first and only chart song while it became Gibb's second one apart from his brothers following 1978's "Oh! Darling" (#15), which was from the notorious film bomb "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

ReduxReview:  It's strange, this song almost works. It starts out great with a nice verse, but I think it kind of falls apart a bit at the chorus. It's a bit disjointed with an awkward silence in it. The memorable part is supposed to be the chorus and it is just not - it just flops around a bit. But the verse and bridge with Levy's soaring vocal are very nice.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  Marcy Levy (her given name) may be more familiar to pop music fans as Marcella Detroit. As Detroit, she became part of the group Shakespears Sister" whose single "Stay" was a #4 hit in 1992. It was her lead vocal on that track. In the 70s, she fronted her own band and they toured with Bob Seger. She then did tours with Leon Russell and Eric Clapton. It was with Clapton that she co-wrote several songs including his 1978 #3 hit "Lay Down Sally."

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