Donna Summer

Released: August 23, 1991

Songwriter: Keith Diamond Donna Wyant Donna Summer Anthony L. Smith

Producer: Keith Diamond

Undercover cop car
Came screeching to a halt
Body lying on the ground
Must be someone's fault
Circumstantial evidence
Seemed to point her way
Her right to remain silent
Was all she heard them say

Blue dress, blue eyes
Blonde hair, about five foot nine
Wrong place, wrong time
Wrong face, wrong crime

(Chorus):
Mistaken identity
Could happen to you or to me
Mistaken identity
Mistaken identity
Could happen to you or to me
Mistaken identity
Mistaken identity

(I didn't do it, no, I didn't do it)

No money for a lawyer
To defend her case
Standing in the line-up
Tears rolling down her face

No one cared to listen
Someone had to take the heat
Sometimes there's no justice
When you're a victim of the street

Wrong place, wrong time
Wrong face, wrong crime (x4)

(Chorus):
Tu ut tu tu tu...tu ut tut tu tu

They didn't even say
I'm sorry
Tried to put her away
In a hurry

Don't make her pay the price
She's not guilty
(guilty)
For someone else's crime
Set her free
(set her free)

I didn't
I didn't
I didn't do it no (x4)

(Chorus 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.

more tracks from the album

Mistaken Identity

From the album

Mistaken Identity (1991)

Donna Summer popular songs

Mistaken IdentityDonna Summer

Donna Summer

Mistaken Identity