Please Don't Leave Me

"Please Don't Leave Me"
Song

"Please Don't Leave Me" is a song from American pop rock singer Pink and the third single taken from her fifth studio album Funhouse. It was released January 31, 2009 in Australia.

The song has received airplay on several Australian and New Zealand stations and has been added to the Radio 1 playlist in the UK. A music video has been shot and directed by Dave Meyers whom had previously directed videos for "Stupid Girls", "U + Ur Hand" and "So What". The video was leaked with the single cover art days prior the release of the song. P!nk performed the song numerous times to promote the album. The uncensored video is currently playing on American music channels. The song is #11 on the compilation album, Now! 31.

Background

"Please Don't Leave Me" was co-written by Pink and famed pop songwriter/producer Max Martin, who handled the production as well for the track. It is one of four songs from the album produced by Max Martin, with the number one single "So What" being another of the four. The song is a mid-tempo track that details a love-hate relationship. Pink sings of someone having a bad effect on her, yet not being able to let go of the person. She insists during the chorus, "I always say how I don't need you, but it's always gonna come right back to this, please don't leave me."

The song was one of the first three to be heard and performed from Funhouse, being performed along with "So What" and second single, "Sober", live on Much Music, prior to the album's release.

Critical reception

The song has been released to highly positive reception, getting 4 stars, or the equivalent, in most review publications, who all regard the song's brilliant lyrics and P!nk's vulnerable vocals as the song's strongest points.

Digital Spy gave the song a positive review: "A really good video can make you realise a song's better than you originally thought - a case in point being the new Pink single. Within the context of her Funhouse album, 'Please Don't Leave Me' seemed like a quite good angsty break-up song - one of many quite good angsty break-up songs on there - but after watching the Misery-inspired promo it becomes something far more memorable. "I can be so mean when I wanna be, I am capable of really anything," sings Pink here, one of several lines that resonate harder once you've seen her brandishing a golf club, chucking her invalid boyfriend out of his wheelchair and chasing him round the house with an axe. Still, entertaining as the video is, it's Pink's bruised vocals - which convey the combination of bitterness and regret in her lyrics perfectly - that leave the biggest impression".

Music video

The music video for "Please Don't Leave Me" was shot in late 2008, leaked to the internet on January 23, 2009, and officially premiered on Pink's YouTube channel on January 27, 2009. It was directed by Dave Meyers. The video draws influences from the 1990 Stephen King based film Misery, as well as other similar thrillers, including 'The Shining' and 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'. It utilizes both the horror/thriller genre, while also being interpretable as a dark comedy. In the week beginning February 27 the video was named Channel V's 'Ripe' clip of the week.

The male lead in the video was portrayed by actor Eric Lively. Brian Christensen served as stunt coordinator, Nikki Hester as stunt double for Pink, and Justin Sundquist as stunt double for Eric Lively.

It begins inside Pink's house, where after a fight with her boyfriend, she is shown trying to stop him from packing his stuff in preparation to leave. He exits the bedroom with his bags, and as he reaches the stairway Pink pleads with him to stay. He refuses and turns to leave. As he does so, he slips on some marbles on the floor and endures a rough fall down the stairs. He sees Pink coming towards him down the stairs, with an innocent expression on her face, and blacks out. He awakens, bruised and swollen in bed with Pink dressed in a nursing type of uniform, stitching up one of his wounds. She dances suggestively for him, while he tries to grasp for the telephone at the bedside, only to have Pink smash his kneecaps with a golf club (a direct imitation of one of the scenes from the aforementioned movie Misery).

Pink pushing her boyfriend, while he is in a wheelchair, dressed as a clown.

Pink is then shown in the kitchen preparing a salad, rapidly and angrily chopping the vegetables with a large knife. Her boyfriend awakens in bed, and attempts to sneak out through the door, but Pink catches him at the doorway. She gives him a bewildered look while holding the bowl of salad, as he debates whether or not he can escape. He opens the door, only to be instantly attacked by one of Pink's dogs. He is next shown opening his eyes to Pink's face yet again, as she paints his face with clownish makeup, while he sits in a wheelchair. She is wearing another lavish outfit. His hands are tied, and he is bruised and battered almost beyond recognition. Pink grabs his wheelchair, spins it around a few times and pushes it off a high step, seeming to enjoy herself in the process. He flies out of the chair, into a room filled with carnival themed objects such as horses used in a merry go round and various dolls. Pink lays on top of him, acting completely innocent, and kissing his cheek. He manages to crawl out from under and begins to attempt another escape.

Pink chases him into the garage, where she grabs an axe and continues to stalk him through the house. He reaches the upstairs bathroom, and shuts the door just in time to block Pink charging psychotically down the hallway with the axe. The axe breaks through the wood, leaving a hole in the door. Pink looks in though the hole (a direct imitation from the Stephen King-based film The Shining), as the man grabs a spray can, spraying her in the eyes. Blinded, she flails backwards, and slips on the marbles from the beginning of the video, falling over the upstairs railing. The final scene shows the paramedics taking the man out on a stretcher, and Pink lying on the floor with her leg broken and the axe embedded in the back of her head. She gives him one final look of desperation not to leave as he is wheeled out, before blowing a kiss to the camera with a comically, psychotic look on her face.

The music video first aired on UK television on 4Music on March 8th, 2009 at 10:45pm. It showed the full video, uncensored.

Censored version

Because of the video's violent and mildly disturbing imagery, an edited ("censored") version has been released, which cuts roughly 11 seconds of footage, but includes some footage not previously used.

The censored version does not focus on Pink's boyfriend falling down the stairs, but instead shows Pink at the top of the stairs with her mouth open, as though in shock. When he is in the bed the sewn stitches on his arm don't appear. The scene of Pink hitting his leg with the golf club is removed. Afterwards, it cuts to Pink chopping vegetables a few seconds earlier than the original and the scene is prolonged a few seconds longer. When the boyfriend tries to escape through the front door and the dog jumps on him, his cuts and blood are censored. Also, the dog isn't shown attacking him.

When the boyfriend is in the wheelchair, the scene of Pink punching his right arm is cut. Instead, only her face is displayed. Pink twirls him in his wheelchair instead of pushing him.

Pink isn't seen holding the axe as she chases him. Instead, the camera focuses on the boyfriend going through the house, looking back and trying to get away from her.

In the bathroom scene, Pink chopping a hole in the door with the axe is cut. We see Pink through the hole in the door, but she isn't shown sprayed with the aerosol. Next, Pink slips on marbles, flips over the railings and lands on her back on the floor, as shown in the unedited version.

Track listing

CD single

1. "Please Don't Leave Me"
2. "Please Don't Leave Me" (Junior Vasquez Tribal Dub)

Maxi Single

1. "Please Don't Leave Me"
2. "Please Don't Leave Me" (Junior Vasquez Tribal Dub)
3. "Please Don't Leave Me" (Digital Dog Club Mix)
4. "Please Don't Leave Me" (Video)

Promo CD

1. "Please Don't Leave Me" (Main)
2. "Please Don't Leave Me" (Instrumental)

Release History

Region	Date
Australia	January 31, 2009
North America	March 31, 2009
Germany	April 17, 2009
United Kingdom	April 27, 2009
Europe	April, 2009
Latin America	May, 2009

Chart performance

"Please Don't Leave Me" made a #46 debut on the Australian ARIA Charts the chart week of 19 January 2009, prior to its release date as a single. On The Official Australian Airplay chart, the song has debuted at #8, making it the highest debut song ever on this chart other than Delta Goodrem's, "In This Life" which debuted at #6 in September, 2007. In its third week on the Airplay Chart it managed to peak at #1, making it Pink's third consecutive single to do so, and making it the first song to peak at #1 in that many weeks. In the UK it debuted at 162 on 2 November 2008 due to the downloads of the song from its parent album (Funhouse), which was newly released that week. In New Zealand, the song debuted at number twenty-eight on February 23, 2009, and has so far peaked at number nineteen. The song peaked also number one in Poland.

In the United Kingdom the song re-entered the chart on 15 March 2009 at 171 due to digital sales from 'Funhouse' and has since reached a peak of number #12, making it her 17th Top-Twenty hit in the UK. .

"Please Don't Leave Me" climbed relatively slowly after its release in the United States. But after weeks of release spent on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Chart, the song debuted on #66 on The Billboard Hot 100 and has so far peaked at # 18, giving Pink her third top twenty hit from Funhouse, as well as her sixth consecutive top twenty on the chart. It's also been doing well digitally, entering the Hot Digital Songs chart at #70 and rising 26 spots to #44 the following week.

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	11
Austrian Singles Chart	5
Canadian Hot 100	8
Czech Republic Airplay	12
Danish Track List	25
Dutch Top 40	19
European Hot 100	17
Finnish Singles Chart	17
German Singles Chart	8
Greek Airplay Chart	13
Irish Singles Chart	10
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	19
Polish Singles Chart	1
Romanian Singles Chart	4
Swedish Singles Chart	16
Swiss Singles Chart	12
Turkey Top 20 Chart	12
UK Singles Chart	12
Ukrainian Airplay Chart	5
U.S Billboard Hot 100	17
U.S Billboard Pop 100	15

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia	Gold	35,000+
Worldwide		1,452,000+

External links

• Official "Please Don't Leave Me" music video on YouTube

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