Donna Summer

Released: May 20, 2008

Songwriter: Donna Summer Jakob Petrén Nathan DiGesare II

Producer: Nathan DiGesare II

Oh Lord

Ride over backwards
Ride over backwards
Ride over backwards
Ride over backwards

I was just a little girl
A-making my own way
16 years or more I had
Nothing left to say

I raised myself up almost
Lived on po'boys too
New Orleans ain't a place to live
If you never been to school

And I said
Ride over backwards
Slide over backwards
Ride over backwards
Let me ride

People gotta tell you
Slide over backwards
Slide over backwards
Ride over backwards
Let me ride

Daddy was a working man
He worked since he was 5
He dropped his wings on my train one day
And never learned to fly

I wonder what it takes to be
Someone who knows why
The earth ain't round
Unless you can
Teach yourself to fly

And I said
Ride over backwards
Slide over backwards
Slide over backwards
Let me ride

People gotta tell you
Slide over backwards
Slide over backwards
(sometimes you gotta be free)
Slide over backwards
Let me ride

Some days in a lifetime you gotta be strong
Some days in lifetime you gotta be brave
Dig on your knees sometimes
Sometimes you even gotta pray

Lord what it is what it is

Sometimes I feel like I'm going down, going down
Going down for the very last time
Oh don't know what it is, don't know what it is
Sometimes I feel like going down

Deep in my heart I pray
Ride over backwards...

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

Crayons

From the album

Crayons (2008)

Donna Summer popular songs

Slide Over BackwardsDonna Summer

Donna Summer

Crayons