Please Help Me, I'm Falling
Background
"Please Help Me, I'm Falling" is a country song on the first solo album of John Fogerty. He released it as The Blue Ridge Rangers. The song was recorded at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley and engineered by Skip Shimmin and Russ Gary. The album came out in April 1973. It peaked at #47 in the USA.
The song was first recorded by Hank Locklin in 1960. It reached #2 on US country charts. For John Fogerty, the song always brought back the image of a truck-stop cafe. Brothers Tom and John would always head for the juke box and play that song of sweet simple melody plus “My Baby Left Me” by Elvis. Both were great juke box songs, trucker’s favorites. (John Fogerty promotional interview, 1973)
Live versions
John Fogerty has never played the song in live shows.
Critical reception
"Please Help Me I'm Falling" and "Today I Started Loving You Again" are both modern country songs done with firmness and conviction. The former was the first country song to make an impression on me and John's version may be a bit too understated. -Jon Landau, The Rolling Stone, July 5th, 1973
"Too slow, but Fogerty's voice is excellent, and the piano and steel guitar are delightful. Nothing overly bad, and still much better than the dribble country stations play." -Matt Loewen
Written by Don Robertson and Hal Blair.
Recorded at Studio C, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA, USA, in 1972.
Appears on The Blue Ridge Rangers album.
Released in April 1973.