Donna Summer

Released: October 5, 1981

Songwriter: Donna Summer Giorgio Moroder

Producer: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Melanie is sweet
A vision on her feet
So young so fair
A bridge of iron
Standing tall between two parted spheres
She's a novelty of reality
Though she tried so hard
My sweet darling Melanie

She's glad for what she's had
Her mom and several dads so she complained
This modern love affair
With life can really get you down

She's a novelty of reality
But she tried so hard my sweet darling Melanie

Ooh but life goes on
Ooh the same old song
Ooh but love's in search of mystery
So you worked so hard my sweet darling Melanie

Over the horizon
Birds of paradise sit in her eyes
You can feel forever on her sweet and silken sighs

She's novelty of reality
So she tried so hard my sweet darling Melanie
Na, na, na
She's novelty of reality
So she tried so hard my sweet darling Melanie
So she tried so hard my sweet darling Melanie
Na, na, na...

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

MelanieDonna Summer

Donna Summer

I’m a Rainbow