Donna Summer

Released: October 31, 1977

Songwriter: Donna Summer Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Producer: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Spoken:
Where am I going? What is the place?
Somebody help me outta here

Oh I'm walking faster, faster and faster to nowhere
Oh I'm running slower, slower and slower to somewhere
'cause the city's closing tighter and tighter around me
It's a nightmare, daymare, it's a badmare
No matter which way-mare

Spoken:
Seems that there must be some way to get out
But I just can't find it

People pushing, hustling, rushing on into the future
Windows open, closing, in a way that they just never used to
Oh there's violence lurking in the alleys
Where no one should dare go
So keep walking faster, faster and faster to nowhere

Spoken:
I gotta get out, somebody...that guy came at me with a gun
The city closing in

Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little

Children crying, screaming, but no one lets on that they hear them
It's getting louder, louder, surely that someone must hear them
'cause the city's closing tighter and tighter around me
It's a nightmare, daymare, it's a badmare
No matter which way-mare

Spoken:
Help me, I wanna get out
Cut it out! Stop closing in on me HELP!!!

Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little
Trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere, trip to nowhere
We're gonna take a little

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

Once Upon a Time

From the albums

Once Upon a Time (1977)
Live and More (1978)

Donna Summer popular songs

Faster and Faster to NowhereDonna Summer

Donna Summer

Once Upon a Time