FOREVER DONNA - A TRIBUTE TO DONNA SUMMER

Just when Donna Summer’s career was hitting new heights, she made the surprising decision to leave Casablanca Records in pursuit of greater control over her career. In the process, she sued Neil Bogart and Casablanca Records for mismanagement and, according to which version you read, may have won or settled the lawsuit in the neighborhood of $10 million but had to give the label one more album.

In retrospect, it seems odd that Donna would turn her back on the man who had molded her success, her image, and her career. Without the non-stop reinvestment of every cent of profit into marketing, Casablanca Records and its signed artists might not have been so successful. In contrast, one only needs to look at what happened when Mercury Records, under the direction of mogul Ahmet Ertegun, failed to market Donna’s album Mistaken Identity or its singles. Mistaken Identity became the worst selling album to date, probably only under-sold by the vault release of I’m a Rainbow. But let’s not get ahead of the story here.

The quest for more creative control was a large component of the attraction and lure of one David Geffen’s new label, Geffen Records. As its first signed artist, Donna carried a lot of weight with Geffen, at least as much, if not more than she had at Casablanca. Ruling the roost at Casablanca, Donna topped Cher, Village People, and a host of other artists large and small. I don’t think she even was eclipsed by Kiss as “disco sucks” took hold in the late 70s. Donna’s appearance on the Gene Simmons single “Burning Up with Fever,” a heavy-rock tune, gives credibility that Donna needed to break free from the disco chains that bound her (even though she was relegated to backing vocals). Neil would have none of it. Neil knew that Donna’s place was on the dance floor, and had the money made and spent to prove it.

David Geffen had already enjoyed great success in the Hollywood music scene, as well as in New York, by 1980. He had founded Asylum records and had been immortalized in Joni Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris,” which is indeed all about David. Egotistical and ruthless in his pursuit of success, he ironically achieved the reputation for Asylum records as the place where artists were well taken care of. In a sense, the antithesis of what Donna perceived at Casablanca. Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell herself, Eagles, and Jackson Browne were amongst the pride of the Asylum stable.

The business marriage of King David (as his mother called him) and the Queen of Disco led to courtly discord and uninspiring offspring. In his closeted gay state, Geffen salivated over the thought of the Queen on his new label. Seeking solace, control, and ego feeding, Donna craved what Geffen’s reputation promised for his new label. Both were sadly disappointed.

The first release from Geffen, The Wanderer, met with limited success, not even cresting one million in sales. Its singles fared worse. While “Cold Love” earned a Grammy nomination for best female rock performance, it didn’t carry the commercial success of “Hot Stuff” the year before, and was a very late entry into the fray. A second nomination for best inspirational performance for “I Believe in Jesus” solidified that Donna’s talent was still there, but the popularity was beginning to wane, particularly on the dance floor, right where Geffen wanted her.
		Donna poses for "The Wanderer" photo session

The Wanderer was too late in the year and too far behind Bad Girls to have capitalized on the momentum in Donna’s career in 1979. Bad Girls was a full eighteen months prior to the release of the Wanderer, with the Greatest Hits Volume I & II: On the Radio becoming the first of what would become a long pattern in Donna’s career of gathering previously-released material and adding a couple of new songs to boost sales. It worked for Greatest Hits…but would never work to that extent again. Rather than create a transition between Bad Girls and The Wanderer, Greatest Hits just made us all pine for the old days, and expect more of the floor-thumping epics we had come to know and love. When The Wanderer emerged with its new wave feel and stylistic meandering that thematically supported its title, it was quite a departure; not one that we were ready to accept. We were already moving on to Luther Vandross’s group Change, Sugarhill Gang, Prince, Lime, and cast of others who infused more soul or more European influence onto the club scene that augmented or mutated, but did not leave disco unrecognizably.

As Geffen signed on more artists, including Elton John, John Lennon, and a myriad of others, Donna was the only artist under contract who was capable of pulling in the dance crowd. Despite the “disco sucks” movement, dance clubs were still prolific across the country, soon to give rise to such megastar acts as Madonna, Sheila E., Vanity 6, and Laura Branigan. With the decline of record sales beginning in 1979, it was no doubt frustrating to David Geffen not to realize the success that he had at Asylum with such high-ranking stars as Donna and Elton John. Other labels had begun to capture niche dance markets, including Prism, Matra, Moby Dick, Unidisc, and Megatone. Dance music was once again headed underground where Viola Wills, Vivien Vee, Queen Samantha, and Linda Clifford were still hanging tough.

		Before we dive into the main subject material of this article, Donna Summer’s 1981 recording I’m a Rainbow, it’s important to understand Mr. Geffen more completely. To describe the man, AskMen.com offers this passage from their feature on Geffen as a recent ‘Man of the Week:’ “David Geffen's character is complex and often contradictory. In his relentless quest for success, he frequently perceives long-time friends and business partners as obstacles that need to be cleared out of the way. He is known for having irrational screaming fits, and has undergone psychotherapy and self-help programs like Lifespring in the hopes of improving this side of his personality.
David Geffen

“On the flipside, Geffen can be an intensely loyal and caring friend, and a very generous person. He has contributed large sums of money to the National Democratic Party, AIDS research and education.

“One of Geffen's greatest talents is his ability to spot and develop creative artists and performers. He has helped launch or develop the careers of people such as Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Eagles, and Tom Cruise. There's no doubt that the man is brilliant when it comes down to the business side of entertainment. His overwhelming ambition and ferocious will can almost be considered the talents that got him where he is today.”
Donna, Giorgio, and Pete set out to create a new double album, one of the sorts that earned them so many accolades and so much attention back in the 70s. After all, Donna was the only woman to have four back-to-back gold albums with Once Upon a Time, Live and More, Bad Girls, and Greatest Hits Vols. I & I: On the Radio. All of Donna’s original material since A Love Trilogy had been concept albums; albums in which the theme was set and the music fit within the theme or concept. Knowing that there was no going back to disco after The Wanderer, it was time to set a more definitive concept. I’m a Rainbow was therefore conceived.

The choice of the name of the album is interesting in itself. It at once connotes the multi-colors of the spectrum, which could be interpreted as the multi-talents of Donna Summer and the different musical styles that she sings on the album (and was capable of), and also the beauty that comes after a rainstorm when the sun shines through, complete with its mythical pot of gold at the end, if one can ever find the end of the rainbow. Was Donna saying something about what she had been through in breaking free from Casablanca, her image, and disco? Was she saying that this was what is worth? If so, that would have been a pretty significant and personal investment to put into the double-record set.

The rainbow also appears as a symbol of what is unreachable. Judy Garland is best known for her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and the best-loved song of her repertoire became her standard and theme song for decades to come, “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” The songs lyrics by Harold Arlen also could apply to Donna’s situation and eerily foretell what was to become of I’m a Rainbow:

Ironically, the rainbow theme is also the chosen symbol of gay pride. The first Rainbow Flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, who created the flag in response to a local activist's call for the need of a community symbol. Using the five-striped "Flag of the Race" as his inspiration, Baker designed a flag with eight stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. According to Baker, those colors represented, respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Baker dyed and sewed the material for the first flag himself - in the true spirit of Betsy Ross. The flag was later reduced to six colors, as it is known today. It was not long after this time in 1981 that Donna was accused of making the first anti-gay remarks. In looking at the symbolic meaning of each of the eight colors of the rainbow flag, I think Donna personified them all.

I’m a Rainbow has retrospectively received critical acclaim. It has been called a lyrically incisive (penetrating, clear, and sharp, as in operation or expression: an incisive mind; incisive comments.) and musically innovative two-disc opus, which was her final collaboration with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte that was years ahead of its time in terms of context and conceptual reaching.

Geffen Records declined to release it. David Geffen is said to have thrown the album across his office upon first or second listening to it. He was upset because it didn’t contain enough dance-oriented material. Given his reputation, it is believable that Geffen reacted this way. Despite his personal relationship that had developed with Donna, his predisposition to success at any cost would likely have led to the destruction of both their friendship and Donna’s ego. Donna has been quoted as saying that she does not go to the studio to have her work canned. Two hot tempers, for sure.

Instead, Geffen paired Donna with Quincy Jones to make Donna Summer. Bootleg copies of I’m a Rainbow circulated for years, until its eventual release on Mercury Records in 1996. Rumors indicate that some bootleg copies included additional tracks. Donna-tribute.com reports that “Donna recorded ‘You'll Never Walk Alone’ for this album, but then replaced it with ‘Don't Cry for Me Argentina.’”

I was first introduced to the bootleg version of I’m a Rainbow in Aventura, Florida, in late 1989 by a man who would become one of the best friends I’ve ever had in my lifetime. Michael (who shares the same name as a now-famous film director, but is not the same person) was introduced to me by a less-memorable boyfriend whom I was seeing at the time. After engaging in a lengthy discussion about the merits of Another Place and Time, which had recently been released and was being circulated, also bootleg, amongst this crowd, Michael learned about my Donna fandom, which was starting to come back out of the closet, where it had been nestled away due to the anti-gay rumors and the fact that it was just not politically correct to be gay and a big Donna fan. Michael had been closely aligned with the DJ community in Florida throughout the ‘80s. He told me how someone he knew had introduced him to the unreleased album, and told the story about David Geffen almost verbatim to how it is told publicly today. The next evening, Michael had the cassette to lend to me.

I must admit that at first, second, and many subsequent listens, I was not at all impressed. In fact, I remember finding the album back then to be tedious, tiresome, and could completely understand Geffen’s reaction. I think that it was because of the juxtaposition of the material against Another Place and Time and the Stock/Aitken/Waterman hit factory sound that was so popular then. It just wasn’t timely and I was younger and more fickle. So, the cassette was stashed away in a shoebox and traveled with me from LA to Florida and back, then to the San Francisco Bay Area and back to Hollywood; curiously, where we live is only minutes from David Geffen’s former offices in Burbank—on a clear day, it’s within viewing distance from a short walk from the house.

Brooklyn Guy asked me to review the album, and I promised I would. At long last, I dusted off the shoebox and slid the cassette into the car to listen to on my way to work. I also listened to the CD 1996 release. In doing some research, I found one consumer who commented that the album “sounds like the tracks are half-finished.” Once I had the cassette played through, I understood why that comment was made. In the 1996 release, the original tracks are stripped down from their original Moroder/Bellotte production values. I’m assuming that this was to update the sound and make it sound less “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

Also, the track order is different on the bootleg version and on the CD version:

Bootleg Version	CD Version
I Believe (In You)	I Believe (In You)
True Love Survives	True Love Survives
You to Me	You to Me
Sweet Emotion	Sweet Emotion
To Turn the Stone	Leave Me Alone
Brooklyn	Melanie
I’m a Rainbow	Back Where You Belong
Walk On (Keep on Movin’)	People Talk
Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina	To Turn the Stone
Leave Me Alone	Brooklyn
Melanie	I’m a Rainbow
Back Where You Belong	Walk On (Keep on Movin’)
People Talk	Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina
A Runner with the Pack	A Runner with the Pack
Highway Runner	Highway Runner
Romeo	Romeo
End of the Week	End of the Week
I Need Time	I Need Time

While this could have been a simple switching of master tapes 2 and 3, it certainly let me know where exactly that the “sides” of the vinyl records were to be cut. Doing so would have created four distinct moods for the concept album: soul, rock, experimental (again like The Wanderer), and dance. Assuming that the CD order is correct, it’s no wonder that David Geffen reacted the way he is said to have. The bootleg order groups more of the up-tempo songs together for more of a dance theme from “Leave Me Alone” through “End of the Week” rather than taking us up and down the energy scale as the CD version does.

Well, that aside, here goes, track by track:

I Believe in You (Faltermeyer/Forsey)
An update number, this song starts the set off perkily. Matched once again with Joe “Bean” Esposito of Brooklyn Dreams (remember Heaven Knows), the duo is once again at it. However, the choice of lyrics and key is a strain for both of them. My advice would have been to bring it down a step or so. The rhythm is catchy and sets the tone for the entire album. It’s kind of Summer and Esposito do Peaches & Herb…”United once again, we stand there hand in hand…”

True Love Survives (Bellotte/Summer)
This track has an extended bridge in the bootleg version with eight extra measures. Reminiscent of “Lady of the Night,” Donna delivers the story of heartbreak with jaded aplomb and theatrical sadness. One of the best cuts of the album.

You to Me (Bellotte/Levay)
This track, composed by Bellotte and an old friend of the trio, Sylvester Levay, who wrote “Fly, Robin, Fly” for Silver Convention and worked with Donna on Lady of the Night, should have been better than it was. As we would see on Donna Summer, Levay’s lyrics had Donna holding high, short vowels, not her strong suit: “With you there’s not a thing I wouldn’t dooo.” With a beautiful verse with interesting timing similar to the style employed by Laura Branigan a few years later, the song runs the gamut from the style we heard on “Sometimes Like Butterflies” to the squelch of “If It Hurst Just a Little” and “Livin’ in America.” Not bad album filler material, but not strong enough to stand on its own. By today’s album standards, song #3 is supposed to be the lead single. This one never would have stood the charts even if it had been released as a single.

Sweet Emotion (Bellotte/Levay)
Another squealer penned by the same duo as “You to Me.” Donna should have been called in to do the lyrics as she knows where her range and style lend themselves better than she should have been called in to do the lyrics as she knows where her range and style lend themselves. If the album had been cut down to a single release as Giorgio Moroder suggested, this one would have definitely ended up on the cutting room floor. The bootleg version, however, features some full and classic Moroder synthesizers that are lacking on the CD version. It was much better with them, albeit somewhat dated.

Leave Me Alone (Faltermeyer/Forsey)
I think this one is the result of its composers reading the book that I bought 88 Songwriting Wrongs and How to Right Them. I am sure that this was supposed to be some follow up to “Cold Love” and “Hot Stuff.” “Leave me alone if you want to stay mine” makes about as much sense as the lyrics to “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and carries it off with about 1/10 of the panache. With the success that Faltermeyer was about to achieve in the later years of the decade, this one is shameful (Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack).

Melanie (Moroder/Summer)
A great hook and a flat, synthesized beat highlight one of those songs that you can’t help but tap along to. Of particular interest is the “shadow” vocal treatment. I can’t tell if there’s actually a male voice (sounds like Bruce to me) or a synthesized backing track singing along with Donna on the melody and verse. Without full credits on the CD liner notes, it will remain a mystery until I can find out more. The track is a poignant commentary on the disco hangover of the ‘70s, complete with child of the passion that consumed the prior decade. Every time I listen, I wonder if the line “She’s glad for what she’s had, a mom and several dads, so she complains,” is a new wave reference to a ‘70s relationship that’s now ended and the mom has gone one way with new men and the dad has done the same, too. The additional lyric that Melanie is “a bridge of iron standing tall between two parted spheres” is further evidence of worlds that are divergent. I think this one had potential.

Back Where You Belong (Faltermeyer/Forsey)
A mixed tempo pop number, this one contains some heavy bass guitar work that makes it appealing. Very timely in its synthesized bridge and harmonic transitions, this one could have also received airplay. “So I’m gonna leave you, just because I want to,” is in direct juxtaposition to the implication that “Back Where You Belong” should mean right here with me. A much better execution of the lyrical irony that pop music in the early eighties was supposed to be. Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” in Donna Summer double entendre fashion.

People Talk (Moroder/Summer)
A campy rap-like sequence was cut completely out of the CD version, reducing the song’s duration by over a minute. It appears as a background and then as the bridge. Three African-American females carry on about who’s doing whom with lightning fast delivery. Understandably dated by the mid-‘90s, the original version is much more meaningful than the sanitized CD version. Again here, as in Melanie, we have a shadow male voice singing in time and pitch with Donna’s lead. And again, due to no album liner credits, it is uncertain who the trio of gossiping hacks may be, but I venture a guess that it’s Donna’s sisters Dara, Linda, and Mary Ellen.

To Turn the Stone (Moroder/Bellotte)
Being of Scottish heritage myself is no reason to accept this poorly executed and drudgery-filled “Celtic rock” ballad. Ouch is all I can say. What this song is about is beyond me. The faux bagpipes are so monotonous and distracting that despite the number of times that I’ve listened to it, I can’t tell what it’s about. Sorry, but this one should receive the ‘delete’ button. Even Sinead O’Connor couldn’t rip this one in half fast enough for me.

Brooklyn (Bellotte/Levay/Summer)
My only question is to Amanda Grace: Do you ever feel left out? Mimi had, of course, “Mimi’s Song” sung live at Universal Amphitheatre during Live and More, and subsequently donated to the Unicef album. Brooklyn has, obviously, “Brooklyn.” This ballad is bluesy and funky. More so than almost anything else we’ve heard up to this point. It could be equally at home on Mistaken Identity or Donna Summer. I always thought that in that famous photo of Donna on her wedding day that she looked pregnant. After finding out Brooklyn’s birth date, I see that I was not incorrect. By my calculation, Donna was 4 to 4 and a half months pregnant on her wedding day. I don’t judge, heaven knows (hah!) that’s OK by me. But it does mean that Donna was pregnant during the recording of The Wanderer and that its video sequences must have been filmed much earlier than the album release in late 1980. So, where is Amanda’s song? Some questions just remain unanswered. However, I would have much preferred to be Mimi as the words to “Mimi’s Song” are much better than “Mimi, felt you ‘fore she, saw you,” but the sentiment of a mother’s love for her child does prevail. Call me selfish, but “Mimi, you’re beautiful. Mimi, you’re mine. And everything I do in my life, seems to take up all your precious time” is a much more appreciated tribute than “Brooklyn, child of rhythm, LA is your home.”

I’m a Rainbow (Sudano)
This track lacks its desired punch as the title track to a double album. Listening to it again and again still doesn’t reveal why Donna sees herself as a rainbow. If the true spectrum of music is supposed to be represented in this album, it falls short on that promise. I usually fast forward through this one.

Walk On (Keep on Movin’) (Moroder/Bellotte)
I always envision an attitude-filled Donna singing this one much like when she sang “Love’s Unkind” five years earlier. It’s more than coincidental that this creative gem was penned by the dynamic duo of Giorgio and Pete. This one delivers the “Cold Love” kind of female rock that other tracks on the album failed with. A new wave edge helps Donna deliver one of the few performances that I enjoy where she references earlier (‘50s and ‘60s) styles.

Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina (Webber/Rice)
The remixed version appeared on Anthology and Hot Tracks remixed this track as a dance release in the mid-‘90s. It was, according to Donna’s appearance on TV about the time it came out, supposed to be the lead single off the Anthology album (what else could have been as everything else was previously released). In 1982, the Evita soundtrack was still hot property even though Boris Midney had released the disco version four years earlier. Donna’s rendition is at once heartfelt and a showcase for her amazing vocal talents. The Hot Tracks version, while great in concept, accelerates the beat and Donna’s vibrato to such an extent that it seems like Alvin and the Chipmunks sing Evita. Above all else, “And as for fortune, and as for fame, I never invited them in, though it seemed to the world they were all I desired” that one line tells us more about Donna’s musical career, state of mind, and artistic endeavors than the entire sum of “Rainbow.”

A Runner with the Pack (Bellotte)
Here’s another track that I would have left on the cutting room floor. While Pete may have known how to lay down a bass line, he needed Giorgio for the melody and Donna for the lyrics. Donna is unconvincing as a high-school age swooner singing about her beau. Whatever this song hoped to capitalize on from the success of “Leader of the Pack” twenty years before is lost when delivered by the woman who not only saw the inside of Studio 54, but also humped a microphone to “Love to Love You Baby” only a few years before.

Highway Runner (Moroder/Summer)
Giorgio Moroder had some pull in Hollywood after his success with the soundtrack from Flashdance. That must have led to the inclusion of this number in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I can’t honestly think of any other reason why it would have made the cut except bargain basement pricing. Donna sounds like she is giving her all in this performance, but it fails to deliver the required punch and staying power that a true #1 would require.

Romeo (Bellotte/Levay)
Unlike its soundtrack partner above, this number combines the feigned adolescent crush-iness of A Runner with the Pack and the drive intended for “Highway Runner” into a hook laden pop number that you can’t help but sing along with. Some familiar sensual ‘swallows’ and gasps can be heard in the breaks that make us believe that a woman of the world has seduced the class jock and he’s exceeded her expectations. I remember hearing this song on local radio in Cleveland as late as 1985. A particularly invigorating performance is contained in the video “A Hot Summer Night.” Noteworthy are the sax performances, which I’m almost certain are synthesized.

End of the Week (Bellotte/Levay)
More a sign of the times than a potential hit, this song capitalizes on the Reagan-era work ethic that was pervading America. I remember my boss telling me circa 1983 that “the birthday party is over” meaning that benefits would start to be cut. Austerity programs and deregulation meant a decline to worker benefits and unionization in America in favor of corporate profitability. Unfortunately, corporate loyalty also became a thing of the past. This song represents what Tony Manero seeks in the film, Saturday Night Fever: a weekend of partying and escape from a dull, drab existence. It’s too bad that Donna was drafted shortly thereafter to appear at Reagan’s second inaugural ball. The enslavement of the American worker that ensued and that this song personifies exists to this day. What birthday party?

I Need Time (Moroder/Bellotte/Summer)
Melodically exquisite and lyrically cinemascopic. “There you stand, torn up yellow tee-shirt and guitar in hand.” Those words conjure up one of my favorite visions of LA life wherein I recently saw a cab drop off a young man exactly as described at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and La Cienega on a Sunday morning, and of Bruce standing forlornly outside Donna’s Benedict Canyon house. Who can resist either? Listen to the song and I dare you to try. This one makes a good partner to Dan Hartman’s “Time and Space” from his Instant Replay album. They would be great offered together with their melodic guitar interludes, swelling and receding choruses, and heartfelt vocal deliveries.

One of the few liner notes included in the CD release is that the set was recorded at Carla Ridge Studios, also known as Camp Carla Ridge in Beverly Hills. Being that Carla Ridge is a quiet residential street located high up in the Trousdale Estates section of Beverly Hills nestled between towering cypress trees lining pristine streets, it’s only logical that this album was recorded in Giorgio’s own home. The neighborhood is quite tony and home to the likes of Harvey Fierstein, Sherwood Schwartz, and Angie Dickinson. Nearly all the instrumentation is synthesized if not absolutely all.

While it’s an honest attempt to head in a new direction, I think that David Geffen, and probably the public, were not ready for Donna to embark on such an ambitious undertaking. Had Donna accepted “It’s Raining Men” and a few of the other songs that she turned down in the early eighties, this set might have been quite different. It was definitely ahead of its time in certain respects, but in the release of 1996, lacks both its full intent and the timeliness that prevent it from seeming pathetic.

What I have found is that the more I listen to it, the more I like it, and the more I appreciate it 24 years after its intended release. If only David Geffen had the same patience. Since he didn’t, I’ve created a mix that might have served Donna more appropriately when she took it to David’s office for its first play. I think David would have found the dance-orientation that he was looking for.

If only Donna had some ruby slippers and a little dog, she might have been able to go home from here.

David Thornton, January, 2005