Rehab (Amy Winehouse song)

"Rehab"
Single by Amy Winehouse
from the album Back to Black
B-side	"Do Me Good", "Close to Front"
Released	23 October 2006 (2006-10-23) (UK) 20 March 2007 (2007-03-20) (U.S.)
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2006
Genre	Soul
Length	3:35
Label	Island
Writer(s)	Amy Winehouse
Producer	Mark Ronson
Certification	Platinum (RIAA)
Amy Winehouse singles chronology
"Pumps"/"Help Yourself" (2004) "Rehab" (2006) "You Know I'm No Good" (2007)
Amy Winehouse U.S. singles chronology "You Know I'm No Good" (2007) "Rehab" (2007) "Tears Dry on Their Own" (2007) Back to Black track listing "Rehab" (1) "You Know I'm No Good" (2) Alternative cover Remix cover featuring Jay-Z Audio sample file info · help

"Rehab" is a song by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 23 October 2006 as the first single from her second studio album Back to Black. It was written by Winehouse and produced by Mark Ronson. The lyrics are autobiographical, and talk about Winehouse's refusal to enter a rehabilitation clinic. It peaked at number 7 in the United Kingdom on the UK Singles Chart and number 9 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100.

It has since become a critical and commercial success internationally, and has been referred to as Amy Winehouse's "signature song". It won three Grammy Awards in 2008, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and was nominated for two more Grammy Awards. It also won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song. Winehouse's subsequent public battle with drug and alcohol addiction has resulted in some of the song's popularity and appearance in the media. The song has been covered by a list of artists. Two remixes featuring American rappers Jay-Z and Pharoahe Monch were released in 2008. A further remix by the electronic band Hot Chip was released in the United Kingdom.

Background

"Rehab" was produced by Mark Ronson and released as the album's lead single in October 2006 in the UK and January 2007 elsewhere. The song was written about Winehouse's refusal to attend an alcohol rehabilitation centre after her management team encouraged her to go. "I asked my dad if he thought I needed to go. He said no, but I should give it a try. So I did, for just 15 minutes. I went in said 'hello' and explained that I drink because I am in love and have screwed up the relationship. Then I walked out." Winehouse later changed her management company.

Ronson expanded on the songwriting process when interviewed by DJ Zane Lowe for the BBC Radio documentary series Radio 1's Stories in an episode called 'Making It' broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on Monday 18 July 2011. He said, "I was walking down the street with Amy. We were in New York and we'd been working together for about a week and we were walking to some store. She wanted to buy a present for her boyfriend and she was telling me about a specific time in her life that was.... I feel bad, like, talking about a friend like this, but I think I've told this story enough times.... but she hit, like, a certain low and her dad came over to try and talk some sense into her. And she was like, 'He tried to make me go to rehab and I was like, "Pfft, no no no"'. And the first thing I was like, 'ding ding ding ding ding'. Like, I mean I'm supposed to be like, 'How was that for you?' and all I'm like is, 'We've got to go back to the studio.'"

In the lyrics Winehouse mentions "Ray" and "Mr. Hathaway", in reference to Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. However, for some time, she replaced "Ray" with "Blake", referring to her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil.

Music video

The music video was directed by Phil Griffin and released in September 2006. It features Winehouse's band playing their instruments while she sings to the camera. The band members are dressed in gowns throughout the video. It begins with Winehouse rising from bed and then moving to the bathroom. For the second verse, Winehouse is on a chair in a psychiatrist's office, presumably explaining herself to an unseen psychiatrist. In contrast to the lyrics, the video ends with Winehouse in rehab, sitting on a bed in a white-tiled clinical ward room with her band around her. On 31 May 2007, "Rehab" debuted on Total Request Live and later peaked at number one on 7 June. The music video was also nominated for Video of the Year at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost out to Rihanna's "Umbrella" music video.

Critical reception

"Rehab" has been acclaimed by music critics. Rolling Stone called it a "must hear song" and a "Motown-style winner with a banging beat and a lovesick bad girl testifying like Etta James." People magazine called the track "instantly memorable." Billboard remarked that Winehouse's vocals on the song were "Shirley Bassey-meets-Ella Fitzgerald" and called the track "a better buzz than a double-gin martini." This song was ranked number seven on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007 and number 194 on the same magazine's updated list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. This song was also ranked number 92 on MTV Asia's list of Top 100 Hits of 2007. TIME magazine named "Rehab" at number one on The 10 Best Songs of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, opining, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and, "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Soon she'd be making headlines for all the wrong reasons. But back in 2007, we were all saying yes, yes, yes to the British belter's one-of-a-kind voice." In 2011, NME placed it at number 8 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

The song won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song for songwriting on 24 May 2007. In July 2007, the track was shortlisted for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. The prize recognises the best British pop singles over the past year. The track competed against singles by Robbie Williams, Girls Aloud, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and Jamelia among others. "Rehab" won the award, making Winehouse only the third act to win the award, after Girls Aloud and Rachel Stevens. The single also won Song of the Year at Village Voice's Pazz & Jop. On 10 February 2008, "Rehab" won three Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Chart performance

On 22 October 2006, based solely on download sales, the Ronson-produced "Rehab" entered the UK Singles Chart at number nineteen and when the physical single was released the following week, it climbed to number seven, at the time making it Winehouse's highest chart position by more than 50 places. By 25 October the album was approaching five-time platinum in the UK, making it the best-selling record of 2007.

The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 91 on the chart dated 31 March 2007 without an official single release. Winehouse's current single at the time, "You Know I'm No Good", entered one spot above, at number 90, in the same week. After lingering in the bottom portions of the Hot 100 for several months, the song suddenly jumped 38 spots to number ten on the 23 June chart, mainly due to digital sales following Winehouse's live performance of the song on the MTV Movie Awards on 3 June 2007; sales of the official remix featuring rapper Jay-Z also had a small effect on the chart position, peaking in the 70s on the iTunes Top 100 in the United States. After a change of rules in the UK allowing all digital downloads to be counted for the singles chart, "Rehab" re-entered the chart at number 20 for the week ending 13 January 2007, whilst "You Know I'm No Good" occupied the number 40 spot as a new entry on downloads alone.Also it topped at the top ten in more than 10 countries.

In mainland Europe the song peaked in Norway and Hungary and reached the top 20 in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Finland, attaining a peak position of number 23 on the European Hot 100 Singles.

As of March 2008, the single had sold 357,943 copies commercially and on downloads in the UK. Between October 2006 and June 2007, the single spent 34 consecutive weeks in the official UK top 75 and has re-entered several times since, most recently at number 29 on 31 July 2011 in the wake of Winehouse's death, giving it a current total of 59 weeks in the top 75, making it the joint 10th longest runner of all time, and 76 in the top 100.

It also became her first top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number nine. The Recording Industry Association of America certified "Rehab" platinum on 11 February 2010 for sales of over 1,000,000 copies.

The song, despite an October 2006 release date, was an enduring hit throughout 2007; with UK sales of 131,415 in 2007 alone, it finished the year as the UK's fifth-sixth biggest-selling single. It is Winehouse's longest-running UK chart hit, but her Ronson collaboration "Valerie" has proven to be her biggest seller to date. As of 2012 the song has sailed more than 1,500,000 copies in UK and more than 1,000,000 in US.

Appearances in the media

On 12 March 2007, Winehouse performed the song live for her American television debut on the Late Show with David Letterman.

As a result of the song's popularity and acclaim, it made several appearances in the popular media in 2007 and 2008. During the fourth season of House M.D., episode trailers featured the song, as the theme tied into a plotline. During Australian Idol 2007, the judges heavily criticised the eventual winner, Natalie Gauci, for performing this song, saying she sang it in "Disney style". On the 6 October 2007 episode of Saturday Night Live, Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig performed a nearly unrecognisable version of the song during a sketch. The song was also performed by a show choir in the pilot episode of the Fox musical comedy series Glee, which first aired 19 May 2009. The song appeared somewhat unexpectedly after choral chants of "Ohio", and was sung in a satirically upbeat manner. The song was released as part of the main soundtrack for Rock Band 3.

The song was also used in the original UK pilot of gothic drama Being Human. WWE wrestler Santino Marella parodied this song while attacking "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for his appearance in the movie The Condemned on a 2007 episode of WWE Raw.

Covers

Several musicians have released covers and alternate versions of the song.

• English girl group Girls Aloud performed their version of the song on Radio 1's Live Lounge (with Jo Whiley) on 10 November 2006, and a studio version later appeared as the B-side to their single "Call the Shots".
• In October 2007, Seether covered the song for Yahoo! Music with an alternative rock arrangement.^{[citation needed]}
• Canadian indie rock band Hot Hot Heat also made a cover of the song, which they released for free download to their MySpace page.
• Frankmusik has also covered the song.
• The Jolly Boys, a Jamaican Mento band, covered the song on their 2011 album, Great Expectation.
• During live performances, Taking Back Sunday often includes the chorus of a popular song in "A Decade Under the Influence" and the breakdown of "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)", and, beginning in 2007, "Rehab" has been used.
• During his world tour in Zürich, Switzerland, in August 2007, pop singer Justin Timberlake sang the song's chorus in the third-person feminine after performing "Cry Me a River", an action that was widely reported to allude to Britney Spears.
• Besides, on 18 July 2007, pop-R&B singer Fergie performed the song during a concert at Anaheim's House of Blues. Maxx Factor covered it of The Sing-Off
• While appearing at V Festival in Chelmsford, England on 18 August. 2007, Kanye West played a tribute cover of "Rehab" for an absent Amy Winehouse, who had planned to perform at the festival but canceled due to exhaustion.
• Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age often incorporated lyrics from "Rehab" into "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" during their tour for Era Vulgaris.
• American punk rap band zebrahead covered this song on their album "Panty Raid".
• American jazz pianist Jeff Lorber covered the song on his album "Heard That" in 2008.
• Filipino Broadway performer, Tony Award winner Lea Salonga performed a cover of the song during her concert, titled "Your Songs", in December 2009.
• In 2010, American artist Keller Williams covered the song in a bluegrass style for his album Thief with musician couple Larry and Jenny Keel of The Keels. He also performed the song live during solo venues, including Summercamp.
• Terra Naomi performed the song acoustically on YouTube in March 2008.
• Industrial metal band Ministry covered "Rehab" on their compilation album, Every Day Is Halloween: The Anthology.
• In 2010 BBC's Over The Rainbow, a talent search hosted by Andrew Lloyd Webber, 4th runner up Jessica Robinson performed this in the first week.
• This song was covered in the Pilot episode of Glee by rival show choir Vocal Adrenaline.
• Chris Martin of Coldplay performed a snippet as a tribute after her death at Splendour in the Grass in 2011 and has since performed this tribute at two other festivals.
• Paolo Nutini covered the song in a compilation CD.
• Matt Roper in the guise of his alter-ego Wilfredo covered "Rehab" at music festivals in 2008; his performance at Camden Town's Lockstock Festival in October that year can be viewed on Youtube.

Track listings and formats

UK CD 1
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rehab" (Album Version)	3:33
2.	"Do Me Good"

UK CD 2
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rehab" (Album Version)	3:33
2.	"Close to the Front"
3.	"Rehab" (Desert Eagle Discs Vocal Mix)

UK digital download
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rehab (Hot Chip Vocal Remix)" (Hot Chip Remix)	6:58
2.	"Rehab (Pharoahe Monch Remix)" (Amy Winehouse vs Pharoahe Monch)	3:36
3.	"Rehab (Vodafone Live)" (Live at TBA)	3:40

USA digital download
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Rehab (Remix)" (featuring Jay Z)	3:52
2.	"Rehab (Pharoahe Monch Remix)" (Amy Winehouse vs Pharoahe Monch)	3:36

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2006–11)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	27
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)	19
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)	10
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)	24
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)	10
Czech Airplay Chart (Rádio Top 100 Oficiální)	49
Denmark (Tracklisten)	5
European Hot 100 Singles	23
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)	15
France (SNEP)	11
Germany (Media Control AG)	23
Hungarian Airplay Chart	1
Israel (Media Forest)	2
Italy (FIMI)	11
Ireland (IRMA)	21
Japan (Japan Hot 100)	84
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)	17
New Zealand (RIANZ)	12
Norway (VG-lista)	1
Slovak Airplay Chart (Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna)	77
Spain (PROMUSICAE)	3
Spain (Airplay Chart)	2
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)	51
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)	11
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	7
US Billboard Hot 100	9
US Pop Songs (Billboard)	13
US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)	14
US Alternative Songs (Billboard)	32

Certifications

Country	Certification
Belgium	Gold
Denmark	Platinum
Italy	Platinum
New Zealand	Gold
Spain	2× Platinum
Switzerland	Platinum
United States	Platinum

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by "Take It Easy" by William Hut	Norwegian Singles Chart number-one single 6 February 2007 – 6 March 2007	Succeeded by "All Good Things (Come to an End)" by Nelly Furtado
Preceded by "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie "Into the Night" by Santana featuring Chad Kroeger	Hungarian Airplay Chart number-one single 9 December 2007 (first run) 10 February 2008 (second run)	Succeeded by "Beautiful Girls" by Sean Kingston "The Way I Are" by Timbaland featuring Keri Hilson

External links

• Music video for "Rehab" on YouTube
• Amy Winehouse – "Rehab" Live on David Letterman
• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics