"Someone found a letter you wrote me On the radio And they told the world just how you felt It must have fallen out of a hole In your old brown overcoat They never said your name But I knew just who they meant I was so surprised and shocked And I wondered, too If by chance you heard it for yourself I never told a soul Just how I've been feeling about you But they said it really loud They said it on the air On the radio"
I figured a little disco might help me (and you) to get moving this morning. Donna Summer has always been a favorite. I remember my dad putting one of her greatest hits albums on tape and I then inherited the vinyl. I don't think any of my friend's had ever heard "Macarthur Park" before I played it on my little record player. I loved everything by her but my very favorite has always been "On The Radio".
I can remember being down the shore (Jersey of course) and walking the boardwalk when a downpour started. My parents and I ducked into a place to eat and right across from us was the movie theater which was showing The Main Event, a movie that I was way too young to see. The title track to the film was by Donna and Barbra Streisand and inside the pizza place where we sat, who was on the jukebox? Of course, Donna.
She had a way of unintentionally providing the soundtrack for bullet point moments in my life. Like when I was pregnant with my first kid, Donna Summer had a VH1 special that blew up and the cd lived in my stereo forever. Her passing at age 63 in 2012 was far too young and under questionable circumstances. She had developed lung cancer in spite of never smoking. Donna maintained that her illness was caused by toxic fumes from 9-11. It's still a bit sad to me to think that she's not somewhere belting out a song. Check out a classic below.
"Those were the times we had Sharing a joy that we thought would last Memories of love and affection Never really was just like a dream Was it the simple things That made me so crazy about you Was it your charm or your passion It's not hard to believe I love you and I need you so I... Sending you forget me nots"
While "Forget Me Nots" was released in 1982, making it a post-disco song, it is often still lumped in with that era of music. It was on Patrice Rushen's seventh studio album and while she had enjoyed a long career before it and has continued to write, sing and work to this day, "Forget Me Nots" is kind of her calling card. It has been one of the most sampled songs over the last few decades and well, why not? The baseline is unmistakable and the rhythm demands movement.
It might be nearly 40 years old but just about every party or night at the club still includes at least one spin of "Forget Me Nots"!
"Someone found a letter you wrote me On the radio And they told the world just how you felt It must have fallen out of a hole In your old brown overcoat They never said your name But I knew just who they meant I was so surprised and shocked And I wondered, too If by chance you heard it for yourself I never told a soul Just how I've been feeling about you But they said it really loud They said it on the air On the radio"
It has been awhile, so I figured a little disco might help me (and you) to get moving this morning. Donna Summer has always been a favorite. I remember my dad putting one of her greatest hits albums on tape and I then inherited the vinyl. I don't think any of my friend's had ever heard "Macarthur Park" before I played it on my little record player. I loved everything by her but my very favorite has always been "On The Radio".
I can remember being down the shore (Jersey of course) and walking the boardwalk when a downpour started. My parents and I ducked into a place to eat and right across from us was the movie theater which was showing The Main Event, a movie that I was way too young to see. The title track to the film was by Donna and Barbra Streisand and inside the pizza place where we sat, who was on the jukebox? Of course, Donna.
She had a way of unintentionally providing the soundtrack for bullet point moments in my life. Like when I was pregnant with my first kid, Donna Summer had a VH1 special that blew up and the cd lived in my stereo forever. Her passing at age 63 in 2012 was far too young and under questionable circumstances. She had developed lung cancer in spite of never smoking. Donna maintained that her illness was caused by toxic fumes from 9-11. It's still a bit sad to me to think that she's not somewhere belting out a song. Check out a classic below.
And like an answer from above you came into my life
And showed me one thing for sure
With love nothing is certain
You got to go for it when you feel it
Everybody, everybody needs somebody to love
And I choose you, baby, so let's
Make that move right now, baby
You only go out once in a lifetime
Make that move right now, baby"
There are a handful of dance songs that instantly put me in a good mood and Shalamar's "Make That Move" is one of them. I used to go to my grandmother's ever Saturday morning and while there I'd end up watching Soul Train. I'm not sure if I actually remember Jody Watley as a Soul Train dancer but even as a kid I knew that's where she cut her teeth on a national level, so I've always affiliated Shalamar with the classic dance show.
"Make That Move" has every element of disco in it that made me obsessed with the music in the first place and this performance is as fantastic now as it first was way back in 1981. Enjoy!
"Shame, ooh My mother says you're playing a game And what you do to me is a Shame Ooh, gonna love you just the same Mama just don't understand Wrapped in your arms Is where I want to be I want to be, want to be Wrapped in your arms That's my high, my high I can't get enough, ooh baby Enough of that magic touch Love is in my heart Tearing the rules apart So, why should I be ashamed"
I make absolutely no apologies for my to-this-day love of disco. The very first 45's that I bought with my own money were Chic's "Le Freak" and Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell"- and I still love them both. I also love how when a classic disco song comes on now and everyone floods the dance floor. The appeal is still there. Evelyn Champagne King's "Shame" is a perfect example of this phenomenon. It's just a great song with a great beat and when you throw in a bit of a cautionary lyrical tale, well you've struck 40 years worth of musical gold.
Click play below and I dare you to try and stay still. You can't do it either, can you?
Technically, "Ring My Bell" actually was released in the summer of 1979 but I'm going to sneak it in here anyway. It sold millions of copies and made sure that Anita Ward would be forever remembered as one of disco's biggest stars. It may be one of the most suggestive songs to come out of the decade but believe it or not it was actually written for a young teen to sing. Yep, "Ring My Bell" was originally supposed to be about a teen girl getting a phone call! Once it was given to Ward the lyrics were tweaked to really sex it up.
"Ring My Bell" stands out because I was totally a disco kid and it was a 45 that I HAD to have. Like, I was 8-years-old and I walked into the record store with my dad and plunked down my own money to buy it. I can still see dad telling my mom about my selection and her freaking out. Dad just laughed and reminded her that I had absolutely no idea what the song was really about and that I bought it for the music. True story but to this day every time that I hear "Ring My Bell" I still can see dad standing there justifying me buying it.
This has been an exhausting week and music is one of the ways that I take my own version of a mental health break. I've learned over the years that, while my taste is eclectic, nothing puts me in a better mood than dance music. Today I turned to Earth, Wind & Fire for a bit of inspiration and thankfully, it worked. When I was ten "Let's Groove" came out and I remember buying the 45 and playing it into the ground- and that was just in the first few weeks that I had it. Disco was technically dead so I clung to anything even remotely resembling it. I danced my ass off in the privacy of my own room and even back then I understood that this was one of those groups that did extra.
They were the whole package, with a whole section of horns and choreographed moves, Earth, Wind & Fire was a force to be reckoned with. In many ways, they still are If you're lucky enough to catch one of their gigs now you'll quickly understand why they are still thriving. Check out "Let's Groove" below. I'm betting it makes you wanna get down too.
"Sometime, don't you feel like you Never really had a love that's real? Well, here I am, and who's to say A better love you won't find today? Just one chance and I will show you love Like no other, two steps above. On your ladder I'll be a peg. I want your lovin', please don't make me beg." When I was seven years old I discovered disco. Just when I thought that "Disco Duck" was everything my dad introduced me to Chic and the absolute magic of Nile Rodgers. "Le Freak" became the first single that I walked into a record store and picked out on my own. The beat and riff is infectious to this day. How do you stay still? I think it's impossible. While my love for "Le Freak" is unmatched "I Want Your Love" might actually be my very favorite Chic song. It just seems to be a perfect blend of everything that the group had to offer and Rodgers was perhaps at his very best. "I Want Your Love" is one of those songs with a special kind of longevity. It has been covered by a bunch of other mainstream artists and even if they only throw one line of the classic song into the chorus of their own work, it clicks and gets a reaction because we all know "I Want Your Love". Even if you are too young to remember Chic in their heyday, you'll likely know this song. Check out the video below. It's a great way to start your Friday!
A few lines in and I'm standing in my parents' very first apartment where my love of music all began. It's a few days before Halloween and my parents were throwing a party for all of their friends. The night before was my kiddie party in our basement. I wore a Wonder Woman costume that was so NOT a Wonder Woman costume because it had a skirt and no lasso. I remember a punch bowl and bobbing for apples and little else. But my parent's party, well that was the real deal. There was neat lighting, a table full of sweets that I was never allowed to have and all of our doorways had beads hanging from them that you were supposed to walk through.
I was 7 years old and beginning to develop my own taste and thanks to my dad's music obsession disco was a big part of it. When I was about five dad started to train as a DJ at a local radio station and his little record collection on a tiny cart with wheels suddenly took over a whole wall of our living room. Even in that small apartment dad's stereo was front and center. His love of music turned into an educated love of stereo equipment. He spent two hours without fail every night cranking out tunes, everything from Pink Floyd to Blue Oyster Cult to ABBA and all the while he was fiddling with levers on all sorts of boxes that were supposed to somehow enhance the sound. I didn't know if the “woofers and tweeters” did any good but the day that he played Chic's “Le Freak” my life immediately changed.
The last song of every evening was picked out by me and by the time 1978 rolled around I was choosing things like “Ring My Bell”, “The Hustle” and “Disco Inferno”. I also waited anxiously for Saturday afternoons to roll around because, thanks to cable television and WPIX in NYC I had discovered The Soap Factory, a weekly dance show. A few weeks before my parent's party we were all watching as Blondie performed a song called “Heart of Glass”. I was mesmerized by the lead singer'sblonde hair, bright lipstick and her turquoise pants suit. My dad always watched The Soap Factory with me, but this time even my mom stopped to check out Debbie Harry. I mean, how could you not?
My mom spent the next week or so in party planning mode. She would fill the bathroom sink with water and bubbles and I'd spend an hour in there playing with all of my Fisher Price Little People. I loved having them swim and ride in their boats every night after dinner and I can remember my mom on the phone in the next room on the phone night-after-night making plans for this bash. My dad was always the laid back one and seemed to have little involvement. She hung sparkly decorations, made food and spiked the punch all while dad was engrossed in his albums. Neither of us realized what he was actually up to and as it turned out, dad's involvement was actually monumental because he was preparing to put all of those newfound DJ skills to good use.
My mom had a surprise or two up her sleeve as well. The creativity was always flowing in that little apartment and so for the week leading up to the party when dad and his music was taking over the living room, mom was in her studio. It was a small room with her easel and mountain of art supplies on one side and her Singer sewing machine on the other. Beneath a window was a big cushion with built-in pillows to nap on. That was my spot to read or draw when mom was busy drawing advertisements for our local newspaper. Dad had thought that mom was working on extra assignments for art school when in fact she had been busy at her sewing machine making a turquoise satin pants suit, just like Debbie Harry's. She had decided to put her blonde wavy hair and 100-pound frame to good use and transform into his new favorite singer, gold cuff bracelet and all, for their Halloween party.
This one night, in particular, reminds me that at one point in time my parents really, truly were on the same page. They really did “get” each other. As mom shocked dad with her costume he was just getting the party started. Dad was the man, but his music collection was the true star of the evening. His friends were all on the floor in front of his racks of records, flipping through everything in amazement and helping him to decide what to play next. Dad's dedications were also a hit because the songs that he played weren't just for particular people but he also had hilarious reasons for his selections.
An hour or so into the party dad pulled out a surprise record that he was really excited about. It was Blondie's “Heart of Glass”, an extended dance mix that wasn't available in the states yet. When he ordered music for the station he would also add a few import records from the UK for his own collection and Blondie had just become available. It was a song that no one else knew until he played it that night but everyone loved it. Even the guys that had been downing their Michelob beer on the floor in front of the stereo all night were finally dancing. One spin of that record led to about 20 more before the night was over.
At first, I might have been the only one not in costume and that was because there was no way that I was going to put that fake Wonder Woman thing on again. My aunt (mom's younger sister) decided in the middle of what looked like a Soul Train line dance that I needed some makeup at least. She grabbed me and her purse and hauled us both into the bathroom. There Aunt Elaine pulled out her black eyeliner and within a few minutes had transformed me into “Cleopatra”. I wasn't sure exactly who that was but my eyes looked like I belonged on The Soap Factory so that kindasorta made me Debbie Harry for the night too, right?
Everyone left after midnight. I remember my dad explaining the concept of time to me and how the digital clock turning to 2:01 am meant that it was Sunday morning even though it still felt like Saturday night. Truth be told it was far later than that and somehow I was still awake. My mom tried to make me go to bed but when I begged for one more spin of “Heart of Glass” my dad put the record on before she could even bother to protest. My room needed to be cleaned up anyway because my bed was where everyone left their belongings upon arrival. They and their coats might have been gone but my toys were all over the place and my precious Little People were scattered all over the room.
I swore that I would help clean up if they let me stay up but instead I climbed into the green recliner that had been temporarily moved into my room during the party. The French doors to my room were open and I curled up there, watching as my parents dragged garbage bags around toclean up the wreckage. My mom told me that I had 5 minutes until she was putting me to bed and so I closed my eyes as Debbie Harry sang.
Who knew that nights like this one actually existed? If beaded doorways, little packs of M&M's and unexpected dance battles were what it meant to be an adult then I really couldn't wait to grow up. I closed my eyes tighter as I heard mom approaching and when she whispered to dad that I was asleep I stayed extra still until she went back to cleaning up. Eventually, I really did drift off to sleep in that chair and woke as dad was carrying me across the room to my bed. As mom tucked me in and kissed me goodnight she did the only thing that could have made this night any better, she took off her shiny cuff bracelet and put it on my arm.
This has been an exhausting week and music is one of the ways that I take my own version of a mental health break. I've learned over the years that, while my taste is eclectic, nothing puts me in a better mood than dance music. Today I turned to Earth, Wind & Fire for a bit of inspiration and thankfully, it worked. When I was ten "Let's Groove" came out and I remember buying the 45 and playing it into the ground- and that was just in the first few weeks that I had it. Disco was technically dead so I clung to anything even remotely resembling it. I danced my ass off in the privacy of my own room and even back then I understood that this was one of those groups that did extra.
They were the whole package, with a whole section of horns and choreographed moves, Earth, Wind & Fire was a force to be reckoned with. In many ways, they still are If you're lucky enough to catch one of their gigs now you'll quickly understand why they are still thriving. Check out "Let's Groove" below. I'm betting it makes you wanna get down too.
