"Please Forgive Me" is a song by Canadian rock musician

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born November 5, 1959) is a British and Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million album, records and Single (music), si ...

. It was released in October 1993, by

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

, as the only single and bonus track from his first greatest hits compilation album, '' So Far So Good'' (1993). The single reached numbers seven and three on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and ''Cash Box'' Top 100, and number two on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart. In the United Kingdom, "Please Forgive Me" peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. It is his only Australian number-one single not written for a motion picture, and it also topped the charts of Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Norway, and Portugal. The accompanying music video was directed by Andrew Catlin and filmed in a recording studio, featuring a dog.

Background

"Please Forgive Me" was written by Adams and producer Robert Lange. The song has an instrumental intro, which is only found on the album version of the song. Adams told Songfacts that it was one of the first songs that he agreed to use a

modulation Signal modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform in electronics and telecommunication for the purpose of transmitting information. The process encodes information in form of the modulation or message ...

in. The single reached number two in the United Kingdom, number seven in the US, and number one in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Norway and Portugal. The song was praised by critics upon its release, and gave Adams one of his best chart performances, his most highly successful being the 1991 international chart-topping hit "

(Everything I Do) I Do It for You "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. Written by Adams, Michael Kamen, and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the power ballad was the lead single for both the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves#Music, soundtr ...

". The song helped '' So Far So Good'' reach number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and in Canada and Australia. The studio band, who also appear in the video which was filmed live during the tracking dates, included keyboard players

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto (band), Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrot ...

and Robbie Buchanan, guitarist

Shane Fontayne Michael Barakan (born 29 April 1954), known as Shane Fontayne, is an English rock guitarist. Active since the 1970s, he was the guitarist for Bruce Springsteen during the 1992–1993 "Other Band" Tour, as Springsteen had disbanded his own E St ...

, bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson, guitarist Keith Scott, drummer

Mickey Curry Michael Timothy Curry (born June 10, 1956) is an American drummer. He has collaborated with singer-songwriter Bryan Adams since the early 1980s, but has also worked with Hall & Oates, Cher, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, ...

and producer

Mutt Lange Robert John "Mutt" Lange ( ; born 11 November 1948) is a South African record producer. He is known for his work in rock music as well as co-writing and producing various songs for Shania Twain, his ex-wife. Her 1997 album ''Come On Over'', whic ...

. The song was co-written and produced by Mutt Lange. It was a radio hit all over the world, and became a hit amongst Adams fans. The single has sold over three million copies worldwide.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

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 ...

'' magazine felt the song "casts him in a familiar role: mournful romantic", and stated that the "guitar-framed

rock ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Ball ...

is an easy smash, thanks to Adams' friendly, world-weathered rasp, and an infectious

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

." He also described it as a "stately tune" and a "delicious hit of ear candy." Dave Sholin from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' commented, "Among rock's most talented balladeers, Adams once again collaborates with "Mutt" Lange on a sensational production." ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...

'' named the song "another husky ballad with the kind of simple structure and simple sentiment which should ensure the widest appeal." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote that it is a "unmistakably part of the Adams' family of great rock ballads." Pete Stanton from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' gave "Please Forgive Me" a score of two out of five, feeling that it "treads the same path" as "

", "but doesn't grab the heartstrings in the same way. The throaty vocals are still there".

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Please Forgive Me" was directed by English photographer, artist, director, cinematographer and filmmaker Andrew Catlin. It was filmed in a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

and features Adams, his band and a dog. Adams and his bandmates befriended the dog—who belonged to the studio owner—whilst recording the track. The video also received a large amount of TV airplay. The video for Adams' 2008 single " I Thought I'd Seen Everything" resembles the music video.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1990s ballads 1993 singles 1993 songs A&M Records singles Bryan Adams songs Canadian soft rock songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Belgium Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Portugal Rock ballads RPM Top Singles number-one singles SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange Songs written by Bryan Adams Songs written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange