I (Still) Feel Love

Last week Donna Summer passed away. The sad news struck me right in my stomach, where the bass-bombardment of Donna's disco tunes used to hit me. Immediately I found myself wandering down memory lane, going out at night, aged around 20, carrying some 12-inch discs under my arm to have the right grooves handy at the party I'd go to. I always grabbed some of Donna Summer's LPs as she really knew where the groove was!

What a few years earlier Barry White had done for the ladies, with his seductive bass voice, Donna did for the guys. However, Donna's "I Feel Love" blasted powerful synthesizer-riffs. This progressive party power was just the music for me! Back in the days...

Reading the obituaries I've learnt a bit more about the person, Donna Summer. Behind the glamour her life was tragic. It seems her sex appeal had also been her curse. Having been raised in a community of devout Christians she was reluctant to slip into the role of the sex-goddess that the music industry imposed on her. Despite her enormous success, she made several attempts to commit suicide. I also wonder if the cancer that ended her life hadn't been a result of decades of struggling with the split between enforced role-playing and her faith. In 1983 she broached the issue in her hit "She Works Hard For Her Money", wrapped in stories about nurses, cleaners and caretakers -  it could have easily been about modern slavery in the music industry.

What remains of Donna Summer is her legacy as an outstanding artist, a fore-runner of Techno, the definitive Disco Queen - and my own memories of slow-dancing to  "AAAhh - Love to Love You Baby". I can't help it, I still feel love.

-  Posted May 20, 2012