I became a fan of Donna Summer the first time I heard “Love to Love You, Baby,” where the final recording lasted over 16 minutes–and according to the BBC, contained 23 “orgasms”!
Love to Love You, Donna Summer, directed by Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano, follows the life and career of Donna Summer. Williams and Sudano did not shy away from exploring difficult aspects of Summer’s life and career.
What makes this documentary different is that Sudano and Williams opted to use Summer speaking in her own words by using audiotapes recorded for her memoir Ordinary Girl (2003). Summer’s journey from singing in a Boston church to her unexpected reign as the Queen of Disco—and the tragedy and spiritual rebirth that followed–makes for a compelling story.
As a teenager, Donna Summer left the United States to join the German cast of Hair. She was still in her teens, a shy, ordinary girl who was suddenly feeling the jolt of the sexual revolution. She lived in Germany for seven and a half years, modeling, acting, falling in love, getting married, and giving birth to a daughter. She met a producer named Giorgio Moroder, and together they created a song called “Love to Love You Baby.” It became one of the world’s premier disco hits.
Donna Summer earned five Grammy Awards, three consecutive Number One platinum albums (she is the only artist, male or female, ever to have accomplished this), eleven gold albums, four Number One singles, two platinum singles, and twelve gold singles. Despite her musical success, Donna Summer’s life was rocky. Are you Donna Summer fan? GRADE: A
Not a fan of disco. I just find it too shallow.
Steve, Disco still has fans here in Western NY with the yearly World’s Largest Disco which has been held at The Buffalo Convention Center since its inception in 1979. Thousands show up!
And, as I’m sure others have already noted, she wasn’t Solely a disco performer, despite being one of the most impressivet talents to emerge from that scene. “She Works Hard for the Money” is not a shallow, but a simple and moving song, for the most obvious example.
Hey, I’m a fan of Chic and a number of other ’70s disco movers and shakers as well. And certainly of such heirs of theirs as Chumbawamba and Theivery Corporation.
Todd, I still listen to “dance music” and Disco. On Thursday, I’ll be reviewing a retro-CD that sounds a lot like the Seventies!
Now if I could actually type Thievery Corporation correctly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eK6SYVyZRk
At a time when Disco music was rife with strident, unimaginative lyrics, the tricky internal rhymes of “Doctor’s Orders” recalled the best of Cole Porter.and W.S. Gilbert.
Dan, I’m a big fan of the lyrics to BAD GIRLS:
Toot toot, hey, beep beep, toot toot, hey, beep beep
Toot toot, hey, beep beep, toot toot, hey, beep beep
[Chorus 1]
Bad girls, talking ’bout the sad girls
Sad girls, talking ’bout bad, bad girls, yeah
“But why think of May in November,
When December is all that you’ll get?
Man lives with a lingering splendor,
And while there are beautiful things to remember,
The ugly thing,s one should forget!”
Dan, don’t you think those lyrics deserve a “toot toot, beep beep”?
You know Disco Dolly Deb is a fan! But let me stress that I’m a fan of her music—her attitudes regarding LGBTQ people were “problematic” to say the least, and that’s incredibly ironic given that the gay community were some of her (and disco’s) biggest fans. As for her music, my favorite of her songs is “Try Me, I Know We Can Make It”.
Deb, after the Disco Years, I was happy to see Donna Summer come back with “She Works Hard for the Money.” Yes, her attitudes about LGBTQ+ people are awkward and troublesome.
That I wasn’t aware of. Seems odd, indeed, but certain sorts of religious training can lead one to what I consider a bad end. And I might presume too much…shall check the documentary!
Not on your life. Disco was the beginning of the awful crap that would eventually drive me away from popular music, which took years to recover from it.
Michael, Disco morphed into “Dance Music” and still is enjoyed by fans like Deb (and me).
Enoch Light and Light Brigade was ’60s discoteque music. There was no end of good and bad work in ’70s disco, but a lot of it was better than the Light Brigade (and some was horribly worse, mostly cashers-in such as Rick Dees, and some of the more “serious” sorts…Andrea True Connection comes to mind).
Enoch Light brigades the Beatles: “Eleanor Rigby”
https://youtu.be/zmZOBICAVrA
Not my cup of tea but I kinda, sorta take a little nostalgic guilty pleasure in seventies synth pop ala “Come Sail Away” and “Dream Weaver” and “I Feel Live” in very small doses. One definitely could make the argument that the extended version of “I Feel Love” was proto-Techno (for what that’s worth) and I definitely remember the record being THE big bedroom soundtrack album alongside Ravel’s “Bolero” at the time.
Byron, I took my little sister and her friends to see the movie STAYIN’ ALIVE and watching those girls dancing in the theater aisles! The Bee Gees provided several Disco classics in their time.
First time I ever saw Styx referred to as synthpop. Crap yes.
I will agree with Styx, and every era of the Gibb Brothers, as leaning heavily into trash.
As someone who liked to dance, I like this music. Much of music sounds like mopey boys strumming a guitar in their bedrooms. This is full of life.
Patti, like you I’m not a fan of mopey music so Disco and Dance Music gets played on my stereo frequently!
Well, there is danceable mopery as well! Much of punk and house and so on.
Deee-Lite, f’rinstance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTcWojwUrfk
“I Had a Dream I Was Falling Through a Hole in the Ozone Layer”
To say nothing of War, who laid down some guidelines for the better disco acts:
https://youtu.be/ptIcert_Ra8
Jackie is more of a fan than I am, but I like a few of her songs. I loved the use of “Hot Stuff” in THE FULL MONTY. “Bad Girls” and “Heaven Knows” are also OK.
Jeff, like Jackie, Diane is a bigger fan of Donna Summer than I am. Yes, I enjoy her music, but I’m dubious about her beliefs.
I don’t remember “Love to Love You Baby” well enough to count the orgasms. When I think of a female performer simulating (?) orgasm in a song, it’s Sylvia (Robinson)’s “Pillow Talk” from 1973. Yowza!
Don’t forget the even earlier (1972) “Jungle Fever” by Chakachas!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LHTLIuNRB2Y&pp=ygUWanVuZ2xlIGZldmVyIGNoYWthY2hhcw%3D%3D
Fred, yes, I remember “Pillow Talk” from 1973 very well. Yowza indeed!
The best thing I can say about Disco is that it’s miles better than (c)rap! I have no particular feelings about Donna Summer!
Bob, Donna Summer worked hard for her money.