Touch Me (49ers song)
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| "Touch Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by 49ers | ||||
| from the album 49ers | ||||
| B-side | "Remix" | |||
| Released | 4 December 1989 | |||
| Genre | Italo house[1][2] | |||
| Length | 3:43 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Songwriters |
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| Producer | Gianfranco Bortolotti | |||
| 49ers singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Touch Me" on YouTube | ||||
"Touch Me" is an Italo house song by Italian group 49ers. Produced by Gianfranco Bortolotti, it was released on 4 December 1989 by label Island as the third single from their debut album, 49ers (1990). The song received favorable reviews from music critics, reaching number three on the UK Singles Chart[3] and it was a top-10 hit in at least 10 other countries in Europe. Outside Europe, it was the first of four hits on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for 49ers. It samples Aretha Franklin's "Rock-A-Lott" from 1987 and Alisha Warren's "Touch Me". The accompanying music video features singer Dawn Mitchell, 49ers frontwoman at the time.
"Touch Me" was quite successful on the charts across several continents. The song remains the group's biggest hit, peaking at number-one on both the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States and the RPM Dance/Urban chart in Canada.[4][5] It spent two weeks at number-one and a total of eleven weeks on the Billboard dance chart.[6] In Europe, the single became a top-10 hit in Austria (9), Denmark (5), Finland (3), Greece (3), Ireland (4), Luxembourg (2), Spain (6), Sweden (8), Switzerland (6), the UK (3) and West Germany (7).[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In the UK, it peaked at number three in its sixth week at the UK Singles Chart, on January 14, 1990.[15] Additionally, "Touch Me" was a top-20 hit in Belgium and the Netherlands. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it peaked at number seven on January 27, after three weeks on the chart.[16] In Oceania, it also entered the top 20, peaking at numbers 15 and 18 in New Zealand and Australia, respectively.
Critical reception
AllMusic editor Alex Henderson noted that Italian producer Gianfranco Bortolotti "sees to it that vocal personality is a prime ingredient of such exuberant offerings" as "Touch Me".[17] Bill Coleman from Billboard magazine described the song as a "soulful 'Ride On Time'-style workout", noting that "strong production and a contagious chorus render track satisfying."[18] He added that "the energetic technotrack utilizes the a cappellas (and quite well actually)" of Aretha Franklin's "Rock-A-Lott" and Alisha Warren's modest UK hit "Touch Me".[19] Ernest Hardy from Cash Box found that inspired by the success of Black Box and "Ride On Time", "this one finds Aretha Franklin in the Loleatta Holloway role." He concluded, "It is full of energy".[20]
Bob Stanley from Melody Maker named it "a beautifully constructed rip-off of 'Ride On Time' (which in turn was a beautifully constructed rip-off of 'Theme from S'Express')."[21] In 1994, Melody Maker editors Peter Paphides and Simon Price remarked that merging of Italo and garage had resulted in "a million fantastic, brutally poppy house tracks with loads of sampled screaming divas", like "Touch Me".[2] Music & Media considered it "storming dance material with house rhythm and loads of samples. Definitely a record with chart and dance floor potential. Listen up."[22] Lola Borg from Smash Hits complimented it as "genuine Italian house music", noting that "it sounds like a cross between Lil Louis (with mad barking dogs) and Black Box and it's fiendishly good and can only be appreciated fully by wiggling all over the shop whilst it's on at full blast."[1] Another Smash Hits editor, Ian Cranna, praised the single as "glorious", with "prime quality Italian house-thumping beats ahoy, rousing piano and strings galore and singalong catchy pop bits all over the shop."[23]