Call Me When You're Sober

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General information

Written by: A. Lee and T. Balsamo

Call Me When You're Sober is the second track and the first single from Evanescence's second studio album, The Open Door. Amy's sisters, Carrie and Lori, performed background vocals for the song (I've made up your mind). "Call Me When You're Sober" officially went for radio ads on August 7, 2006, but the song had been leaked on July 30, 2006 forcing radio stations to play the song early.

The song is about Amy's past relationship with Shaun Morgan. When the single was out on the radio, Shaun announced that he was going into rehab. Amy also said that the song is about other things in her life, "it was also about the people I was working with that were kind of holding me down and manipulating me and betraying me. I had to put my foot down and walk out the door."

Amy wrote the song for herself and didn't think it was for the band, adding "I was just joking around having a good time, making myself feel good. Now it's a single."

Amy's description of the song:

It's very obvious who it's about. I know that people would read between the lines and think it's about my ex-boyfriend Shaun Morgan [of Seether], but I wanted to be completely clear. I needed so bad to say exactly what I was feeling for so long. Music is therapy for me. It's my outlet for every negative thing I've ever been through. It lets me turn something bad into something beautiful.

In an interview with Kerrang! in September 2006:

That whole thing wasn't a bad relationship, but it was a very bad break-up. It was awful. [...] So I ended the relationship, packed some stuff, left Los Angeles and rented a house in Florida. This was this time last year. And 'Call Me When You're Sober' spilled straight out of me. It was very cathartic. After that I moved to New York. I'm not suggesting that leaving your house and moving across the country is the way to get out of a relationship, but it worked for me.

In an interview with Spin in October 2006, she said:

I had no intention of hurting [Shaun], but when the song came out so bluntly instead of hiding behind metaphors, I had to keep it. There were times when I was like, "Am I really gonna say this?" My favorite line is when I sing, "I've made up your mind" at the end, after singing "Make up your mind" the whole song. It's like, "I've had enough. I'm worth a lot more than this." But at the same time, I don't hate Shaun. I hope he gets healthy and finds happiness.

Amy talked about the song in a 2011 interview with Spin:

It's mostly a chick anthem: 'You only want me when you're drunk. You only want me because I'm not there.' I definitely get a lot of girls who are like, 'That's my song. I assigned that ringtone to my ex-boyfriend.'

During an interview with Songfacts in 2016, she explained how she reframes the song when she sings it live:

That song is more about a breakup. The ending of a relationship and getting to the place with yourself where you're finally willing to stand up for yourself. Put your foot down when you know you need to. It's the harder path to step out into the unknown. It's easy for me to apply that across the board to lots of situations in my life. When I'm singing that live, I definitely have different places where I go with it these days.

In another interview in December 2016, she talked about how the song came about:

[Former Evanescence guitarist] Terry [Balsamo] and I were at a campout writing session. We rented a place in Florida near the water and just stayed there for months. I was playing around with this song, and he could hear it from the other room. He was working on a heavy riff, not like what I was doing at all. I was like, “Would it be super weird if these two things mashed up?” I love this song because it has this fun spirit that was new for us as a band. You can still be heavy with a smile on your face.

She also said about the process that: Wind up didn't choose this single- I did, and I had to fight for it. I love this song. Also, they didn't change anything about it. This is the way we made it. We fought over the guitar part but eventually just got the mix right.

Call Me When You're Sober was added to the setlist during The Open Door's tour during 2006 and 2007. It was later performed at the Legends & Lyrics concert in Nashville on February 23, 2009. It was also added to the setlist in 2011-12 to support Evanescence. It's also been part of some set lists of The Bitter Truth tour from 2021-23.

Versions

Studio Versions

Call Me When You're Sober

• Recording date: September 2005 - March 2006
• Status: Released
• Released on:

The Open Door (track #2) – the first single off the album

All "Call Me When You're Sober" singles

• Length: 3:34

Live Versions

Call Me When You're Sober [Live]

• Performing period: October 5, 2006 - December 8, 2007; November 2009; August 17, 2011 - November 9, 2012; November 2015; April 30, 2016 - July 9, 2017; May 3 - September 26, 2019; November 5 - December 11, 2021; January 14 - December 14, 2022; February 25 - October 2023
• Status: Unreleased
• Examples: Kool Haus, Toronto, Canada (October 5, 2006)

Call Me When You're Sober [Acoustic]

• Performing dates: August - September 2006; February 23, 2009 (Legends & Lyrics); March 5, 2018 (The Strombo Show)
• Status: Released
• Released on:

All "Call Me When You're Sober" singles

Japanese editions of The Open Door (track #14)

• Recording date: August 13, 2006
• Recording place: New York City
• Length: 3:37

Lyrics

Don't cry to me
If you loved me
You would be here with me
You want me
Come find me
Make up your mind

Should I let you fall?
Lose it all?
So maybe you can remember yourself
Can't keep believing
We're only deceiving ourselves
And I'm sick of the lie
And you're too late

Don't cry to me
If you loved me
You would be here with me
You want me
Come find me
Make up your mind

Couldn't take the blame
Sick with shame

Must be exhausting to lose your own game
Selfishly hated, no wonder you're jaded
You can't play the victim this time
And you're too late

Don't cry to me
If you loved me
You would be here with me
You want me?
Come find me
Make up your mind

You never call me when you're sober
You only want it cause it's over
It's over!

How could I have burned paradise?
How could I?
You were never mine!

So don't cry to me
If you loved me
You would be here with me
Don't lie to me
Just get your things
I've made up your mind

Video

Video still of Call Me When You're Sober

The video for "Call Me When You're Sober", produced by Marc Webb with a budget of $400,000, was filmed in Hollywood, California, and was officially released on August 7th, 2006 on MTV. It features a theme that is loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood.

These live wolves came in, and they each had trainers and it was really fun. I thought it was really cool, but then when they came in, they were 150 pounds. So I was like, 'Wow, if I got on all fours, I'd be about the same size as this huge animal.' But it was me and the wolves in the room, and it was all cool. It was awesome. My allergies kicked in, but I powered through. And then we shot the scene at the vanity with the Big Bad Wolf coming over my shoulders and trying to seduce me. The song is so literal, the lyrics and everything — I mean, obviously, just by the title — that we felt like the video would have the freedom to go in a less literal direction. So it's [a modern re-imagining of] Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf and sort of a more cool, superhero, rock and roll Little Red Riding Hood.

The Big Bad Wolf in the video, Oliver Goodwill, is from the UK. He has been playing drums for 17 years. He posts on EvBoard under nickname realwolf, though EvBoarders affectionately call him 'Wolfie'.

Watch the video on YouTube.com.

Commercial release

Main article: Call Me When You're Sober Single

The "Call Me When You're Sober" single was released to most of the world on September 18, 2006, and to the UK on September 25, 2006.

Tracks released with this single include:

1. Call Me When You're Sober [Album version]
2. Call Me When You're Sober [Acoustic version]
3. Making Of Call Me When You're Sober [Enhanced CD feature] (05:23)
4. Call Me When You're Sober Video [Enhanced CD feature]

• The 'Making Of' clip is a shortened version of the program broadcast by MTV. The full version can be found on YouTube in two parts here and here.

Guitar tabs & sheet music

• Piano Chords
• Piano sheet music - arranged by PIANOTRANSCRIBER
• Piano sheet music with guitar tabs