Donna Summer

Released: October 5, 1981

Songwriter: Harold Faltermeyer Keith Forsey

Producer: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

[Intro]
Ooh, woah
Woah, woah

[Verse 1]
I've been down a million times
If I've been down before
Never thought I'd hurt so bad
To see you play the fool
Never a mountain high enough
I'd sit and I'd watch you climb
'Til the day I saw you walk out
Of your life and mine

[Pre-Chorus]
So I'm gonna leave you
Just because I want you
Back where you belong

[Chorus]
Gonna make you see just what you've been doin' to me
Back where you belong
Back home right by my side is where you want to be
Back where you belong

[Post-Chorus]
Oh yeah, yeah
Ooh-ooh

[Verse 2]
Standin' in the shadows
Watch your never-ending flight
Just how high is high to be
Before you see the light?
Will this be the change you need
To show you who you are?
I love you, but I'll leave you
Just to prove you've gone too far

[Pre-Chorus]
So I'm gonna leave you
Just because I want you
Back where you belong

[Chorus]
Gonna make you see just what you've been doin' to me
Back where you belong
Back home right by my side is where you want to be
Back where you belong
Can't you see you're losin' me, usin' me?
Back where you belong
Heaven knows I love you, will this make you see?
Back where you belong

[Instrumental Break]

[Pre-Chorus]
So I'm gonna leave you
Just because I want you
Back where you belong

[Chorus]
Gonna make you see just what you've been doin' to me (Gotta, gotta, gotta get)
Back where you belong
Back home right by my side is where you want to be (Gotta, gotta, gotta get)
Back where you belong
Don't you understand my feelings and set me free (Gotta, gotta, gotta get)
Don't you realize that I need you, baby? (Back where you belong)

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.

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