Savin' Me

"Savin' Me" is a song written and performed by Canadian band Nickelback. It was released as the fourth overall single from their fifth studio album, All the Right Reasons (2005). The song reached number two on the Canadian Singles Chart, became another top-10 hit for the band in New Zealand, peaking at number nine, and peaked at number 19 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. The music video was very well received and it is among their most well known videos. When the song returned to the band's live setlist during their Feed the Machine Tour; an edited version of the video, without the parts showing the band, was played on the big screen during the performance, being the only song with a music video during their live performances.

"Savin' Me"
Single by Nickelback
from the album All the Right Reasons
Released	February 27, 2006 (2006-02-27)
Studio	Mountainview (Abbotsford, British Columbia)
Length	3:39
Label	Roadrunner
Songwriter(s)	Chad Kroeger Ryan Peake Mike Kroeger Daniel Adair[1]
Producer(s)	Joey Moi[2]
Nickelback singles chronology
"Far Away" (2006) "Savin' Me" (2006) "Rockstar" (2006)
Nickelback US singles chronology
"Animals" (2005) "Savin' Me" (2006) "Far Away" (2006)
Music video
"Savin' Me" on YouTube

The verse "I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story" is a reference to the eighteenth chapter of Dante Alighieri's poem Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy^{[citation needed]}. The song was featured in the closing credits to the film The Condemned as well as in the commercials for the third season of Battlestar Galactica and the second season of Prison Break. It was also the title theme for the TV series Surgery Saved My Life.

Music video

The music video opens with a man in a trenchcoat wandering near a street corner with a confused look on his face. He then sees another man talking on a cell phone about to get hit by a New Jersey Transit bus, and pulls him back just in the nick of time, and then walks away. The second man starts staring at other people as the song begins.

Eventually, the viewer sees that the second man sees timers (counting in seconds) with glowing numbers counting down above the heads of everyone around him. To everyone else, he appears to be crazy. He is baffled by the meaning of the timers until he sees an elderly woman being brought out on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance: when the timer above her head reaches zero, she dies. Shortly afterwards, he sees a young woman sitting down and peeling an orange. She has numbers above her head and in front of her pregnant stomach. He also sees that he cannot see the timer above his own head. He soon spots a business woman about to enter her car, and sees her timer rapidly dwindles much faster than it should, dropping from the millions to the single digits in a matter of seconds. Realizing what's about to happen, he pulls her out of the way in nick of time, just like the first man in the beginning did to him, before her car is crushed by a falling statue in a crate (which, in an example of foreshadowing, can be seen in midair about halfway through the video (timestamp 2:00 as well as the lyrics just afterwards: "I'm callin'"). The second man, talking on a cell phone, then walks away with his own reappearing glowing numbers overhead, just as the man who had saved him did, leaving the businesswoman astonished as she now sees the timers over everyone else's heads.

The band is in an apartment; Chad Kroeger and Ryan Peake are singing on camera, but no instruments are played; the other band members are seen simply staring at the camera, or into space. It was filmed over two days, in Vancouver on West Hastings and Burrard Street and directed by Nigel Dick.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2006–2008) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[3] 18 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[4] 43 Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[5] 2 Canada CHR/Pop Top 30 (Radio & Records)[6] 3 Canada CHR/Top 40 (Billboard)[7] 27 Canada Hot AC (Billboard)[8] 40 Canada Rock (Billboard)[9] 29 Germany (GfK)[10] 72 Ireland (IRMA)[11] 47 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[12] 25 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[13] 81 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 9 Slovakia (Rádio Top 100)[15] 25 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] 82 UK Singles (OCC)[17] 77 US Billboard Hot 100[18] 19 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[19] 29 US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[20] 29 US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[21] 2 US Pop Airplay (Billboard)[22] 6 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[23] 11

Year-end charts Chart (2006) Position Australia (ARIA)[24] 99 US Billboard Hot 100[25] 49 US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[26] 8

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[27]	Silver	200,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Release date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United States	February 27, 2006	Hot adult contemporary radio	Roadrunner	[28]
Australia	April 24, 2006	CD		[29]
United Kingdom	June 5, 2006			[citation needed]

References

1. CD liner notes: Now That's What I Call Music! 22, Sony BMG 2006
2. https://www.discogs.com/release/4660983-Nickelback-Savin-Me ^{[bare URL]}
3. "Nickelback – Savin' Me". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
4. "Nickelback – Savin' Me" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
5. "Nickelback - Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
6. "R&R Canada: CHR/Pop Top 30" (PDF). Radio & Records. February 24, 2006. p. 27. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
7. "Nickelback Chart History (Canada CHR/Top 40)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
8. "Nickelback Chart History (Canada Hot AC)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
9. "Nickelback Chart History (Canada Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
10. "Nickelback – Savin' Me" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
11. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Nickelback". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
12. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Nickelback" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
13. "Nickelback – Savin' Me" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
14. "Nickelback – Savin' Me". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
15. "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 200636 into search.
16. "Nickelback – Savin' Me". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
17. "Nickelback: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
18. "Nickelback Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
19. "Nickelback Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
20. "Nickelback Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
21. "Nickelback Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
22. "Nickelback Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
23. "Nickelback Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
24. "ARIA Top 100 Singles for 2006". ARIA. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
25. "Hot 100: Year End 2006". Billboard. billboard.com. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
26. "Adult Pop Songs – Year-End 2006". Billboard. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
27. "British single certifications – Nickelback – Savin' Me". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
28. "Going for Adds". Radio & Records. No. 1646. February 24, 2006. p. 20.
29. "The ARIA Report: New Releases Singles – Week Commencing 24th April 2006" (PDF). ARIA. April 24, 2006. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 19, 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2021.