"Come with Me Now" is a song by South African American band Kongos. Initially released to iTunes in December 2012 as a single from their album ''

Lunatic ''Lunatic'' is a term referring to a person who is seen as Mental disorder, mentally ill, Risk, dangerous, Foolishness, foolish, or crazy—conditions once attributed to "lunacy". The word derives from ''lunaticus'' meaning "of the moon" or "moo ...

'', "Come with Me Now" earned commercial success in the United States in 2014, eventually peaking at number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart and becoming their first charting single in the United States.

Background and release

In 2011, Kongos released their album ''Lunatic'', which featured "Come with Me Now" which was released as a single. With the band performing the song live while opening for American band

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, "Come with Me Now" was considered a fan favorite there though it initially struggled to find an audience in the United States. The band admitted that when "it didn't seem like things were getting along we really lost heart – we were ready to move on to new material". In early January 2014, the song began receiving airplay in the US, generating major label attention for the band which was eventually signed to

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. It was released to US

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...

on 15 April 2014. The song appears on the soundtrack of the movie ''The Expendables 3''. The song was released in the UK as the lead single off ''Lunatic'' on August 17, 2014.

Composition

"Come with Me Now" has been described by ''Billboard'' as an "accordion-tinged" rock song. Members of the band themselves say that the song is heavily influenced by

kwaito Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, between the late 1980s and 1990s. It is a sound that features the use of African sounds and samples. Kwaito songs occur at a slower tempo range than other styles of h ...

music, which is described as being a blend of

South African jazz South Africa has a notable jazz scene. History The jazz scene in South Africa grew much as it did in the United States. Through performances in nightclubs, dances, and other venues, musicians had the opportunity to play music often. Musicians su ...

, township pop, and Western

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

. It was written by keyboard/accordion player Johnny Kongos and singer/bassist Dylan Kongos.

Commercial performance

On April 9, 2014, "Come with Me Now" debuted at number 98 on the ''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, making it their first charting single on the chart; it peaked at number 31. It also topped the ''Billboard''

chart. By reaching the summit of the chart in 10 weeks, it was the quickest song of a rookie band to top the chart since American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Evanescence Evanescence is an American Rock music, rock band founded in 1994 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent extended play, EPs and a Origin (Evanescence demo album), demo ...

's 2003 song "

Bring Me to Life "Bring Me to Life" is the debut single by American rock band Evanescence from their debut studio album, '' Fallen'' (2003). It was released by Wind-up as the album's lead single on January 13, 2003, following its inclusion in the soundtrack ...

". The single peaked at number 4 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

chart and number 7 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

. The song has sold 1.3 million copies in the United States, as of December 2014. The single also peaked at number 14, number 16, and number 18 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

and

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

charts, respectively. The song also topped the Official South African Singles Chart and peaked in the top 40 in New Zealand. It has sold over 160,000 copies in Canada.

Music video

The music video for "Come with Me Now" was uploaded on July 31, 2012. As of July 2024, the video has received a total of over 168 million views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The video includes footage of the band playing the song, intercut with looped shots of people performing other activities such as applying makeup, exercising, and flipping through a magazine before they fall into water.

Live performances

The band performed the song on

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

on March 5, 2014.

Personnel

* Dylan Kongos

Lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

* John J. Kongos

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

, keyboards,

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder wa ...

, vocals * Jesse Kongos

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, vocals * Daniel Kongos

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals

Use in popular culture

* "Come with Me Now" has been used in commercials for TV shows, theme parks and networks including ''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and Andy Wilman, for Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November 2016. The programme was devised in the wake of the depar ...

'', '' The Originals'',

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

, Syfy, '' Hemlock Grove'',

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's 2014 summer programming lineup,

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, National Geographic Channel Philippines, History Channel (South Africa), '' NCIS: New Orleans'', the

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are locate ...

app,

Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort, often shortened to Universal Orlando, is a theme park and entertainment resort complex located in Orlando, Florida. It is the flagship of the Universal Destinations & Experiences theme park chain. Following the succes ...

and '' Running Wild with Bear Grylls''. * The song was used in the "50 Cameos segment" to kick off the 2014 MTV Movie Awards hosted by

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

. * "Come with Me Now" was the official theme song for

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

's May 2014 pay-per-view '' Extreme Rules''. * The song was also used for televised sporting events, including the

2013 Rose Bowl The 2013 Rose Bowl, the 99th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Tuesday, January 1, 2013, at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. The Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association is the organizer of th ...

, 2013 Orange Bowl and games for the 2014 NCAA Division I baseball tournament. It was used as an unofficial theme song for the 2015 Copa América. * The song appeared in the trailer for the films ''

Holy Motors ''Holy Motors'' is a 2012 surrealist fantasy drama film written and directed by Leos Carax and starring Denis Lavant and Édith Scob. Lavant plays Mr. Oscar, a man who appears to have a job as an actor, as he is seen dressing up in different co ...

'' and ''

Horrible Bosses 2 ''Horrible Bosses 2'' is a 2014 American crime comedy film directed by Sean Anders and written by Anders and John Morris (filmmaker), John Morris. A sequel to 2011's ''Horrible Bosses'', the film features Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeiki ...

''. * The song was featured in the 2014 ''

NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network in the United States si ...

'' season,

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. The Lightning compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the ...

's 2014–15 season and during the pregame of Game 7 of the 2014 World Series. * The song was featured in the

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

"Get Carried Away with the Cup" campaign, promoting the return of coverage of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

to the broadcaster. * The song appeared in the "Last Hope" trailer for the video game '' Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel''. * The song appeared in the film '' The Expendables 3'', the TV show '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', season 15, episode 1 and the video game ''

Guitar Hero Live ''Guitar Hero Live'' is a 2015 rhythm game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision. It is the seventh main instalment and the twelfth overall instalment in the ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was released for PlayStation 3, ...

''.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control 2012 songs 2012 singles 2014 singles Kongos (band) songs Epic Records singles