Donna Summer

Released: October 31, 1977

Songwriter: Donna Summer Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Producer: Giorgio Moroder Pete Bellotte

Once upon a time
There was a girl
Who lived in the land
Of dreams unreal
Hiding from reality
Treated like a stranger
Living in her fantasies
Trapped within their world

Once upon a time
Her hopes had died
No one there to hear
Her futile cries
Living in a house of stone
No one on her side
Family in name alone
No place left to hide
Aah!

Once upon a time
Once upon a time
Once upon a time
Once upon a time

Once upon a dream
A man will come
And give her everything
She wants and loves
But in the morning
She'll awake
To face the room around her
It's just another lonely day
And bitterness surrounds her
Bitterness surrounds her
Aah!

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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Once Upon a Time

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Once Upon a Time (1977)

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Donna Summer

Once Upon a Time