Remember Me

“Remember Me” is the 1997 hit from Scottish DJ Alexis “Lex” Blackmore under his stage name “Blue Boy”. The song is built around a 1969 track titled “Woman of the Ghetto” by Marlena Shaw, a well-known and historic American singer.

“Remember Me” features few lyrics, but they are important to explain: “Remember me? I’m the one who had your babies, I”. The lyric refers to African-American maids raising white children for hardly any pay, as well as featuring scatting which occurs in the live version of the song: “ging, gi-gi-ging…”. “Remember Me” originally appeared on American DJ Mark Farina’s 1997 CD “Mushroom Jazz Volume One”, which was a remix album. In a feature found on bluesandsoul.com (which is believed to be from sometime from 2009 – 2011) Shaw explained how she felt about the remix of her track:

“When it first happened, and the Mushroom Jazz people contacted me from San Francisco, I was kind of excited about it. But then, once I actually HEARD it, my first reaction was ‘Oh my goodness! How in the world can I possibly stand onstage and sing those same notes, and those same lyrics, over and over again?’! You know, ‘I’m the one who had your babies – ha-ha-ha-ha’! I mean, it’s different when it’s being recorded and you’re just pushing the button! But then, once I got used to the idea, I became excited all over again! And actually several other people have sampled the song since, though with them it’s been the onstage version I did on the (1973-released) ‘Live At Montreux’ album that seems to have got more attention – I guess because it was more spontaneous. Which, as I say, is something that HAPPENS in my live performances! And I particularly liked the St. Germain version, which had more of a jazz flavour to it.”

The music video for “Remember Me” was uploaded to Dutch music company “Altra Moda Music” and their YouTube channel in April 2013. It is not the full length version (which is over 6 minutes long), but the shorter one, which lasts 3 minutes and 45 seconds. The video features shots of women fashionably dressed walking into an underground bar. A man is with them in sunglasses and leads them while all the women dance while looking into the camera. At the end of the video, everyone in the bar is up and dancing. As of March 2020, the video has 2.8 million views and 22 thousand likes. On Spotify, the original mix of the song has 10 million streams worldwide.

Release Date: 1997

Songwriter/s: Lex Blackmore, Robert Miller, Richard Evans & Marlena Shaw

Producer: Lex Blackmore

Label/s: Pharm, Jive & Om

Music Video Release Date: 11th April 2013

Chart Rankings: “Remember Me” performed extremely well on global charts, reaching many places. Within a year of its release, “Remember Me” had charted at #17 in Australia, #21 in Austria, #12, #17 and #16 on various charts in Belgium; #6 in Canada, #4 in Denmark, #13 in Europe, #5 in Finland, #17 in France, #18 in Germany, #2 in Iceland, #6 in Ireland, #18 in Italy, #13 and #17 in the Netherlands, #4 in Norway, #8 in Scotland, #4 in Spain, #8 in Sweden, #4 in Switzerland, #8 and #1 on different charts in the UK, and #2 and #27 on various Billboard charts.

The lyrics to “Remember Me” can be viewed here: LINK