Donna Summer

Released: July 5, 1984

Songwriter: Bruce Sudano Donna Summer

Producer: Michael Omartian

Face the music
Face the music
Face the music and dance
Face the music
Face the music
Face the music and dance

You took my heart for a ride
You tried to hurt cheat and lie
But you'd better know
That this walk down the road

You're gonna face the music and dance oh
Face the music
Face the music
Face the music and dance

I gave you all I could give
I tried to teach you how to live
Baby but this time
Please write down the line

You're gonna face the music and dance oh
You took good change with my love
You tread it down and beat it all
But you'd better know
This walk down the road

You're gonna face the music and dance oh
Face the music
Face the music
Face the music and dance

Listen to me baby
Face the music
Face the music
Face the music and dance

Somewhere in the dark
Corners of your heart
You will know I'm gone
Distant like a dream

Just a memory
Fading with the dawn
Somewhere in the dark
Corners of your heart

You will feel I'm gone
I'm gone
Face the music
Face the music
Face the music and dance

As the unquestioned queen of disco, the one and only Donna Summer lit up the late 70s and 80s with flashy, exuberant vocals and automatic earworms. Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on Dec. 31, 1948, Summer moved to Germany after being cast in a Munich production of Hair. There, she happened to meet Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and the trio conglomerated to form a dynamic music team. With Moroder, Summer forged together her first album, The Hostage, which reached moderate success in Northern Europe. Summer’s big break, however, would come later with the release of 1975’s sexual “Love to Love You Baby”, which became one of disco’s first mainstream hits and reached #2 on the Billboard Charts.

1977 came around with the concept album I Remember Yesterday, which featured the Top 10 single “I Feel Love”. The next year, Summer hit the silver screen with the movie Thank God It’s Friday, whose soundtrack featured one of her own the iconic “Last Dance.” This would later become one of the disco legends' signature songs. “Dance” would take home an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe, and it jumped to a peak of #3 on the charts.

Yet Summer’s illustrious career was far from finished – Summer’s first live album Live and More featured the single “MacArthur Park”, a melting ballad that was a cover of the Jimmy Webb ballad of the same name. “Park” became Summer’s first – and perhaps most memorable – No. 1 hit, and cemented her status as a vocalist as well as a performer. With the track, she became the first female in modern rock history to hold the top spot in both the Hot 100 and the Billboard 200. 1979, though, would really be the peak of her career.

more tracks from the album

Cats Without Claws

From the album

Cats Without Claws (1984)

Donna Summer popular songs

Face the MusicDonna Summer

Donna Summer

Cats Without Claws