Donna Summer

Released: October 11, 1976

Songwriter: Pete Bellotte Giorgio Moroder Donna Summer

Producer: Pete Bellotte Giorgio Moroder

Emptiness and just a memory
Love is gone with nothing left for me
All those wasted feelings for something I no longer have
I never knew that love could hurt so bad

Winter melody, winter melody, winter melody
Play for me, just for me
'cause he's not coming home and I'm here alone
On my own

I can't bear to see the sun go down
Casting stormy shadows all around
Nothing seems to matter, I just get by from day to day
I never thought that you would leave this way

Winter melody, winter melody, winter melody
Play for me, just for me
'cause he's not coming home and I'm here alone
On my own

Winter melody
Play for me, just for me
'cause he's not coming home and I'm here alone
On my own

Loneliness, that's all that's left for me
Happiness is chilled by winter's breeze
I keep on remembering the day that you came along
And since you left, well I just sing the song

Winter melody, winter melody, winter melody
Play for me, just for me, 'cause he's not coming home
Won't you please? On my own

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

Four Seasons of Love

From the albums

Four Seasons of Love (1976)
100 Essential Love Songs (2004)

Donna Summer popular songs

Winter MelodyDonna Summer

Donna Summer

Four Seasons of Love