Donna Summer

Released: August 28, 1978

Songwriter: Donna Summer Virgil Weber

Producer: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Spoken:
You know tonight is a very important night
For me for a number of reasons
My little girl is here tonight
And I don't think you understand
What it's like being the daughter of
Someone who's always gone
It's kind of scary and it's kind of lonely
And I guess she thinks to herself sometimes
"Is mummy ever going ever gonna come home?"
And so my daughter looked up at me
Last week and she said "mummy
When are you just gonna stay home
One day and be with me"?
And so it kinda struck me funny
And I didn't realize that I hadn't spent
Anytime with her for a long time
So I sat down and wrote down this song
After she went to bed
And I told her tonight when it was bedtime
I would sing her son

I bet you ask yourself
Why I'm never there
It's not because I like being away
You see I've made a spectacle of myself
And it seems that the whole world needs me
I understand when you cry alone
And mama's not there to wipe your eyes
You see it's only because
I'm out being someone to make you cry

I got a little letter
And I read it on the plane
And in my heart I felt a funny kind of pain
I wish that I could be there
To touch your face again

Mimi you're beautiful
Mimi you're mine
And other things that I do in my life
Seem to take up all your precious time

There's so much I long to say
So much more I long to do
But I guess it's all just have to wait
Till I can get to see you

Mimi you're mine
Oh, Mimi you're mine
Oh, Mimi you fill my life

You fill my life with so much love
Cause you're beautiful
And you love me
And you'll understand

Mimi it's bedtime say Goodnight
"Goodnight"

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

Live and More

From the album

Live and More (1978)

Donna Summer popular songs

Mimi’s SongDonna Summer

Donna Summer

Live and More