Ah, the days when a song from a soundtrack could greatly outlast the film it was written for. On The Radio was written for the film Foxes and in the process became Donna's fifth consecutive top five single, and a song covered by everyone from Emmylou Harris to Selena.
Really great song Sorta drags towards the end, though
What's amazing is how many of these songs were HITS on R&B radio. I guess Black radio stations always played pop stars if their complexion was connected? Barbadian Robyn really didn't start anything.
On The Radio is one of the most emotive of Donna songs for me. I am always moved by it. Always.
Hmm, I never thought about it like that. I guess I was too focused on that excessive instrumental section at the end.
Incidentally, the first time I ever heard this song was Vonzell Solomon performing it during the top three night of American Idol season four. I illegally downloaded her version and put it on my iPod.
Yes you were. Especially for This Time. You won't be forgiven or forgotten for that.
my ears aren't used to Disco/70s music, so I can't tell what's considered bad music and what's considered good for that era, per se.
that's why most of my scores were between 4-6 range.
It's alright though Geezy. I know where you sleep. I KNOW THIS.
Arguably THE defining song of Donna's pre-peak disco period, Last Dance was written by Paul Jabara (who also co-wrote It's Raining Men) for the film Thank God It's Friday. No one remembers the film, but everyone loved the song (except Geezus. Hmmph.) The song went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
Jabara got Donna to record this in an unusual way; he locked her in a Puerto Rican bathroom and refused to let her out until she heard his demo version. This was probably during her coke days, so she agreed and out came a hit.
An engineer/producer/co-writer? was not so enthralled:
Quote:
Originally posted by Bob Esty
I changed some of the chords and extended the 'hook' to repeat three times to finish the last phrase of the chorus. I also added a bridge to build to a climax and suggested a ballad intro à la "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" [the Diana Ross version] and another ballad in the middle of the song building again to a high note for the last chorus ending. To our knowledge, this had never been done in a disco track. ..We did the piano/vocal with Donna and me of the full version including the two ballad sections and the ending in one 'pass'...I recorded the full track in one day, rhythm in the morning, horns and strings during the day. That same night, Giorgio Moroder recorded Donna's vocal exactly as she sang the demo, in two takes, and banning me from attending the session. In spite of the fact Giorgio didn't like the song and didn't want Donna to sing in a full voice style, I thought I would be at least credited for co-producing the track and co-writing the song with Paul. He ultimately took credit for it. And Paul Jabara took the Oscar. I learned a bitter lesson from that.
But perhaps it's lasting impact was that this woman performed it.
Sorta drags towards the end, though
