Althouse: Goodbye to Donna Summer.

May 17, 2012

Goodbye to Donna Summer.

She was 63.

Here's my favorite Donna Summer video:

"A new kind of love and we call it agape/Don't take too long to find/True love transcends all time..."

39 comments:

MadisonMan said...: What a great voice.

I'm listening to MacArthur Park. Complete cheese, but she made it work.; 5/17/12, 11:24 AM
netmarcos said...: Love her or not, the girl could sing!

WV: onlami juwasti

Say what? Is that anti-semitic or something?; 5/17/12, 11:24 AM
Anonymous said...: The video isn't working, but her song Unconditional Love is beautiful. Rest in peace.; 5/17/12, 11:26 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: ¡¿What?!; 5/17/12, 11:28 AM
John Burgess said...: Oh, dear... some of the finest sex in my life was accomplished to her music playing in the background.

She had a great voice and did her utmost with the music that was popular at the time.; 5/17/12, 11:30 AM
Curious George said...: Well,you can always hear her on the radio

A big voice in disco, bad news for guys like me that couldn't dance.; 5/17/12, 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...: I guess for her this really was the 'Last Dance'. What a great voice.; 5/17/12, 11:33 AM
Robert Cook said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/17/12, 11:35 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I hope I wasn't the only high school student listening to "Love to Love You Baby" on the radio without a clue.; 5/17/12, 11:36 AM
Robert Cook said...: I've never heard or even heard of this song.

She did have a lot of great songs, though.; 5/17/12, 11:36 AM
Lyle said...: This is sad. So 1980's.; 5/17/12, 11:37 AM
traditionalguy said...: Love is stronger than death, concluded the Song of Songs writter who was a Wise Jew.

Those were good times when she was singing.

RIP in God's agape love.; 5/17/12, 11:43 AM
traditionalguy said...: I was watching her song videos and was amazed at her persona. The voice was still great, but she also had a connection to what she was singing that was unrivaled.

I wish that I could have known her.; 5/17/12, 11:51 AM
pm317 said...: This is our (my husband introduced me to it)all time favorite:

I Remember Yesterday; 5/17/12, 12:00 PM
Christy said...: That video almost sent me into diabetic shock. Should put a warning label on it, Althouse.

Still, she provided music for some happy times. I remember having the 16 minute version of "Love to Love You Baby."; 5/17/12, 12:09 PM
TMink said...: The 12 inch single of I Feel Love is just an amazing piece of music and would have been enough for one person to produce. I will have to find it for tonight. I did NOT like disco, but I always liked Donna.

Trey; 5/17/12, 12:24 PM
john said...: Well shut my mouth.

All these years I never knew how "agape" was pronounced. Jeez.; 5/17/12, 12:34 PM
Methadras said...: RIP Donna Summer. Your music laid the path for many of my sexcapades growing up. I will miss you.; 5/17/12, 1:05 PM
edutcher said...: Not my dish of Lapsang Soochong, but she was the voice of Disco.

My sympathies.; 5/17/12, 1:06 PM
ricpic said...: Those white kids in the video are only allowed to be reactive. Puts them in their place! Isn't it great to live in The New Order? Great for all bien pensants, that is. And blacks. And hispanics (exclusive of white hispanics). And hatboy.; 5/17/12, 1:12 PM
Amartel said...: I feel ... sad. When everyone else in my high school was burning their Saturday Night Fever albums, I was listening to Donna, KC, etc. And Skynrd, and Aerosmith, and Tom Petty. Not choosy about the various pop music genres; if it's good it's good.; 5/17/12, 1:50 PM
ndspinelli said...: Last Dance.; 5/17/12, 2:06 PM
Mary Beth said...: All these years I never knew how "agape" was pronounced. Jeez.

It's not ah-gah-pee, the way they say it here (had to rhyme with "free"). It's ah-gah-pay. Unless you're talking about having your mouth hanging open, then it's uh-gayp.; 5/17/12, 2:27 PM
el polacko said...: it's sad to lose someone so young to disease and my thoughts, of course, go out to her loved ones. the woman did have a good singing voice that was perfect for dance music…but, that said, the reason so many of her early songs were hits is because of the amazing production of the electronic wizard, giorgio moroder.
her later stabs at pop music with other producers never quite took off.

..and btw, summer vehemently denied ever having made any disparaging remarks regarding gay folks or the aids epidemic and worked very hard for the rest of her career to regain her gay fan base, although with limited success. her recordings with moroder in the 70′s, however, remain staples in gay music history.; 5/17/12, 2:33 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I had a crush on Donna Summer.

RIP; 5/17/12, 2:41 PM
Ralph L said...: Mary Beth, that's how I heard it in school, from an Episcopal priest, but what about Calliope? Those crazy Greeks.; 5/17/12, 2:53 PM
Ralph L said...: Of course, I also had a teacher in California who pronounced Powhatan, Poh hat' an. Made my mother laugh.

Never heard this song before. Didn't Summer stretch the envelope (and other parts) for Madonna, Gaga, et al?; 5/17/12, 3:01 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: ot..
big Drudge headline.. ie Obama birth origin.; 5/17/12, 3:19 PM
Mary Beth said...: I've called the musical instrument a cal-ee-op. It amuses me and annoys others, win/win!

Now I'm confused about Powhatan. Online dictionaries say it like pow-wa-tan' (stress on last syllable).

I blame NPR. Their pronunciation of Nicaragua is where the desire to be "authentic" all began.; 5/17/12, 3:21 PM
Carnifex said...: @Lem

No idea what you're talking about*coughObamacoughKenyancough*

But we would be birthers to think something's up with the BC, and that's just craaayyyzzeee; 5/17/12, 3:35 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The New York Times went to Colombia and tracked down an escort to Obamas Secret Service escort.

But apparently there are no people that were alive when..
Why look and then have to report what you find.

The MSM is not looking because they are afraid of what they might find.; 5/17/12, 3:51 PM
Ralph L said...: Ralph say it like pow'-wa-tan' (stress on first and last syllables), thanks to Mom.

Now I've forgotten what separates agape from eros and philos.; 5/17/12, 3:56 PM
gadfly said...: Rush had a nice story about meeting Donna Summers and husband on an airplane. They wanted to tell him that they believed in conservatism.

Then he sang the words, but not like Donna Summers to this hot song. Whew!; 5/17/12, 4:07 PM
Irene said...: She performed at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. Her voice had held up beautifully.; 5/17/12, 4:28 PM
Seven Machos said...: Pass the dutchie! On the left-hand side!; 5/17/12, 8:13 PM
Titus said...: I have a picture from Christmas in 1980 at my house. I am like 9 and holding a Donna Summer album and my older sister is holding AC/DC album.

Last Dance was always played at fag bars at the end of the night.; 5/17/12, 9:38 PM
Titus said...: She was a Dorchester girl too.

Boston is so fab.; 5/17/12, 9:46 PM
Bill said...: 'I blame NPR. Their pronunciation of Nicaragua is where the desire to be "authentic" all began.'

You mean 'Neek-uh-RAH-hwa'?

There are worse things. Like the BBC: 'Nik-a-rag-you-ah'. I once heard them pronounce Baja California as 'BAY-ja ...'.; 5/17/12, 10:11 PM
rhhardin said...: Armstrong and Getty, Thursday morning, on guessing with a few hints, the breaking news of unexpected female celebrity music death, "What'd she die of, boogie fever?"

It turns out it was cancer. "Oh great, ruin my boogie fever joke."

(Dons serious radio face.)

"Well, Greece is exploding and Donna Summers dead, your reactions..."

"Your calls; 5/18/12, 10:09 AM