"Take Me Home Tonight" is a song by American rock singer Eddie Money. It was released in August 1986 as the lead single from his album Can't Hold Back. The song's chorus interpolates the Ronettes' 1963 hit "Be My Baby", with original vocalist Ronnie Spector reprising her role. The song reached number four on the BillboardHot 100 on November 15, 1986, and number one on the Album Rock Tracks chart; outside the U.S., it was a top 15 hit in Canada. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, and was Money's biggest hit on the U.S. charts. Alongside its album, "Take Me Home Tonight" helped revive Money's career after a period of declining sales. It also allowed Spector to resume her touring/recording career after several years of retirement.
Background
By the mid-1980s, Eddie Money had reached a low-point in his recording career after several years of drug abuse. Columbia Records still wanted to keep Money on its roster, but restricted his creative control regarding his output. Record producer Richie Zito brought Money the song "Take Me Home Tonight", and Money would recall: "I didn't care for the demo it did have a good catch line. When I heard 'Be My Baby' in it I said: 'Why can't we get Ronnie Spector to sing it?' 'That's impossible.'" Money invited his friend Martha Davis, lead vocalist of the Motels, to sing the lines from "Be My Baby" on "Take Me Home Tonight": Davis encouraged him to try to recruit Spector herself and Money was eventually able to speak on the phone to Spector at her home in northern California: Money - "I could hear clinking and clanking in the background...She said: 'I'm doing the dishes, and I gotta change the kids' bedding. I’m not really in the business anymore, Eddie. Phil Spector and all that, it was a nightmare'...I said 'Ronnie, I got this song that’s truly amazing and it’s a tribute to you. It would be so great if you…did it with me.'" The success of "Take Me Home Tonight" encouraged Spector to resume her singing career, and she released her second solo album, Unfinished Business, in 1987. In 1987 Money would say of "Take Me Home Tonight": "I didn't like the song, but…it helped Ronnie out and it helped me get some of my other material on the album across, so now I'm happy I did it."
Music video
The video was directed by Nick Morris and shot entirely in black and white at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada. It opens with Money alone with a metal ladder and a folding chair on an otherwise empty stage. He sings and plays an alto saxophone to an absent audience, while Ronnie Spector is seen in a make-up room and then walking through a backstage hallway to the arena floor during cutaways. Spector's face is not completely revealed until about three-quarters of the way through the video, when she joins Money on the stage.
Reception
The Los Angeles Times Steve Hochman, in a review of Can't Hold Back, felt that Money did Spector a disservice, particularly with the song's "characterless production," commenting, "where Phil Spector built his wall with style and grace, Money has erected a monolithic barrier."
Accolades
The song was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards on February 24, 1987, but lost to Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love".
Commercial performance
In Canada, it debuted on RPM Top Singles chart at number 95 in the issue dated October 4, 1986, and peaked at number 15 during the week of November 29, 1986.
