Donna Summer

Released: August 23, 1991

Songwriter: Bruce Woolley Betsy Cook

Producer: Keith Diamond

I stand before you with my mind open wide
Waiting to receive whatever will be
The world the eyes survey is not the only world
For deep within the soul can be found all things

Like the shape of sound, the shape of wind
Like the shape of things when they first begin
How could I stop what I had to start
The cry of a waking heart

(Chorus):
All I want is to love you
All I need is to get through
What I believe is a light in the dark
The crying of a waking heart

You shine inside me like the moon in the stream
And the waters flow around me

Like the colour of sun I cannot explain
Behind the familiar the view is strange
Maybe to love is to fly apart
And this emotion the cry of a waking heart

(Chorus):

(Bridge):
Golden slumber
Now and forever
Truly rising
Imagine heaven
One vibration
This eternal thing

(Chorus x2, out)

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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Cry of a Waking HeartDonna Summer

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Mistaken Identity