Donna Summer

Released: October 5, 1981

Songwriter: Harold Faltermeyer Keith Forsey

Producer: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Say you dominate you can never wait
To listen to the things that I have got to say
You're amorous, polygamous
And that's okay as long as I don't start to play

Say listen good
You know you should
Paradise is built inside an hour glass
I'm feminine but that don't mean
That I would want to travel second class

Leave me alone 'cause I've got my rhythm (yeah)
Leave me alone 'cause I've got my life
Leave me alone 'cause I've got my rhythm
Just leave me alone
Just leave me alone
Leave me alone if you want to stay mine
Leave me alone

Now I am you and you are me
The signs are right and it will fit eventually
It's hard to take you'd better break
A habit that has ruled for an eternity

It's your concern you'd better learn
I'll never belong to you or any other man
Take what I give and go and live
With someone else if you don't understand

Leave me alone 'cause I've got my rhythm
Leave me alone 'cause I've got my life
Leave me alone 'cause I've got my rhythm
Just leave me alone
Leave me alone
Leave me alone if you want to stay mine
Leave me alone

Leave me alone if you want to stay mine for awhile
Leave me alone if you want to stay mine for awhile

Just leave me alone
You think you're hot stuff
You think you're so cool

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

I’m a Rainbow

From the album

I’m a Rainbow (1981)

Donna Summer popular songs

Leave Me AloneDonna Summer

Donna Summer

I’m a Rainbow