Pitbull — Timber feat. Ke$ha

“Timber” is a song by American rapper Pitbull featuring American recording artist Kesha. The song was released on October 7, 2013, as the lead single from Pitbull’s extended play (EP) Meltdown. The song was produced by Dr. Luke, Cirkut, and Sermstyle, with additional production by Nick Seeley. The song interpolates “San Francisco Bay” (1979), by Danish harmonica player Lee Oskar of the band War), which was written by Lee Oskar, Keri Oskar, and Greg Errico.

“Timber” features harmonica player Paul Harrington of Rockwall, Texas, who plays through the entire song. He was told to emulate Lee Oskar. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks, and has also topped the charts in many other countries, including Canada, where it has stood at number one for eight consecutive weeks, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Kesha had previously featured Pitbull on remixes of her songs “Tik Tok” and “Crazy Kids”. In an interview in December 2013, Pitbull said that Rihanna was originally meant to be the featured artist on “Timber”, but she had already been asked to be the featured artist on Shakira’s “Can’t Remember to Forget You” and did not have time to record “Timber”.

“Timber” is a dance-pop song that lasts three minutes and twenty four seconds. It contains country and folk influences. According to the sheet music music published at musicnotes.com, the song is set in common time with moderately fast tempo of 132 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of G# minor and follows a chord sequence of G#m-B-F#-E. Kesha’s vocals span from G#3 to D#5.

It reached #1 in Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lebanon, Luxembourg (digital sales charts), the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine (dance charts), the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela.

It also peaked at #2 in the Czech Republic, Ireland, and South Korea, #3 in Israel, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, and Switzerland, #4 in Australia and the Flanders region of Belgium, #5 in Spain and the Wallonia region of Belgium, #7 in Italy, #8 in France, #10 in Brazil, #11 in Ukraine, #13 in Mexico, #16 in Japan, and #17 in Russia.

The clip Pitbull — Timber feat. Ke$ha can be downloaded for free and without registration.