I Feel Love

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For other uses, see I Feel Love (disambiguation).
"I Feel Love"
I Feel Love by Donna Summer US vinyl A-side 1977 reissue.jpg
A-side label of U.S. vinyl reissue pressing (1977)
Single by Donna Summer
from the album I Remember Yesterday
B-side "Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)"
Released July 2, 1977
Format
Recorded
Genre
Length 5:53
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Giorgio Moroder
  • Pete Bellotte
Donna Summer singles chronology
"Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)"
(1977) 		"I Feel Love"
(1977) 		"Shut Out"
(1977)
Music video
"I Feel Love" on YouTube
Audio sample

"I Feel Love" is a song by Donna Summer, with production by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. It first appeared on Summer's 1977 album I Remember Yesterday. The song became widely popular during the Disco period[1] and is widely credited as "one of the most influential records ever made", originating electronic dance music.[2] Italian producer Moroder described Summer's work with him on the song as "really the start of electronic dance" music.[3] In 2011, the Library of Congress added the song to the National Recording Registry,[4] deeming it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important".[5]

Production[edit]

Before "I Feel Love", most disco recordings had been backed by acoustic orchestras, although all-electronic music had been produced for decades.[6] Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte's innovative production of this disco-style song, recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track, utilizing a Moog synthesizer, spawned imitators in the disco genre and was influential in the development of new wave, synth-pop and later techno. Moroder went to work on the song with Bellotte in his Musicland Studios in Munich. "We wanted to conclude with a futuristic song," he said, "and I decided that it had to be done with a synthesizer."[7]

Unusually for a disco track of that era, Moroder composed the backing track and bass line before the melody. He introduced a degree of variety by altering the song's key at regular intervals and layering in Summer's repetitive and dreamily orgasmic vocals.[8]

The song was recorded on a 16-track tape recorder, with a click track to sync together the various parts played on a sequencer.[9][10]

Composition[edit]

The song is in the key of C major, with electronic dance flavor, and choruses and interludes. The album version lasts for almost six minutes. It was extended for release as a 12" maxi-single,[11] the eight-minute version included on the 1989 compilation The Dance Collection: A Compilation of Twelve Inch Singles. The song was slightly edited on the 7" format, the fade-in opening sound reaching maximum volume sooner. A version which fades out at 3:45, before the third verse and final choruses, has been included on a large number of greatest hits packages and other compilations issued by PolyGram, Mercury Records, Universal Music and others, such as 1994's Endless Summer: Greatest Hits and 2003's The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer.

Following its huge commercial success, Summer, Moroder and Bellotte produced an 11-minute "Now I Need You"/"Working the Midnight Shift" sequence on Summer's 1977 double album Once Upon a Time, which successfully builds on "I Feel Love"'s pioneering ethereal vocals, mechanised beats, sequenced arpeggios and ostinato basslines.

Critical reception[edit]

According to David Bowie, then in the middle of recording of his Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno, its impact on the genre's direction was recognized early on; "One day in Berlin ... Eno came running in and said, "I have heard the sound of the future." ... he puts on "I Feel Love," by Donna Summer ... He said, "This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years." Which was more or less right."[12]

Music critic Vince Aletti wrote that, "The pace is fierce and utterly gripping with the synthesizer effects particularly aggressive and emotionally charged." He went on to predict that the track "should easily equal if not surpass" the success of "Love to Love You Baby" in the clubs.[13]

Commercial performance[edit]

The song peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of November 12, 1977. It reached number nine on the Soul Singles Chart in October 1977. Its 1995 remix peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play.

In the United Kingdom, "I Feel Love" peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart in July 1977, a position it maintained for four weeks. It also topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands; and peaked within the top ten in Canada, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland.[14] The 1982 and 1995 remixes of the song peaked at number 21 and number eight on the chart respectively, and sales of these physical singles totalled 956,400.[15] According to the Official Charts Company, together with digital sales, "I Feel Love" has sold 1.07 million copies in Britain as of June 2013, making it the country's 103rd best-selling single of all time.[16]

Impact and legacy[edit]

In a 2017 feature on the song's 40th anniversary for Pitchfork, music journalist Simon Reynolds reflected that "I Feel Love" had a significant impact on music across all genres for the next decade, including rock-leaning genres such as post-punk and new wave, and subsequent sub-genres of the electronic dance music style the song had pioneered, including Hi-NRG, Italo disco, house, techno, and trance.[17] Reynolds also posited "If any one song can be pinpointed as where the 1980s began, it’s "I Feel Love."[17]

Mixmag ranked the song number 12 in its 100 Greatest Dance Singles Of All Time list in 1996, adding:

"Whenever, however you hear this tune, it's guaranteed to make you smile, shut your eyes and trance out. The first electronic disco masterpiece, disco diva Donna and Moroder's finest, trippiest moment. Whether it's Derrick May or Carl Craig slipping Patrick Cowley's deliciously psychedelic 1982 remix into their techno sets, or Masters at Work climaxing a four deck set with last years garaged-up remake, or just some bloke in a bow tie playing the original at your brother's wedding, this record is timeless. And priceless."[18]

Slant Magazine ranked the song 1st in its 100 Greatest Dance Songs-list in 2006, adding:

"No longer would synthesizers remain the intellectual property of prog-classical geeks. And, separated from its LP context and taken as a Top 10 single, it didn't just suggest the future, it was the future. Cooing ascending couplets of an almost banal ecstasy, Summer's breathy vocals still dwelled in the stratosphere of her own manufactured sensation."[19]

In 2011, The Guardian's Richard Vine ranked the release of "I Feel Love" as one of 50 key events in the history of dance music, proclaiming it "one of the first to fully utilise the potential of electronics, replacing lush disco orchestration with the hypnotic precision of machines".[20]

Mixmag ranked it #19 in its 2013 '50 Greatest Dance Tracks Of All Time[21]

Critics' lists[edit]

The information regarding lists including "I Feel Love" is adapted from Acclaimed Music, except where otherwise noted.[22]

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Les Inrockuptibles France 1000 Indispensable Songs 2006 *
1000 Necessary Songs 2015 *
Volume 200 Records that Changed the World 2008 *
Musikexpress Germany The 700 Best Songs of All Time 2014 134
Rolling Stone The 500 Best Songs of All Time 2004 458
Spex The Best Singles of the Century 1999 *
NPO Radio 2 Netherlands Top 40 Songs by Year 1969-2000 2013 18
Panorama Norway The 30 Best Singles of the Year 1970-98 1999 1
BBC United Kingdom Pop on Trial, Top 50 Songs from the 1970s 2008 *
Robert Dimery 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die: And 10,001 You Must Download 2010 *
The Guardian 1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear 2009 *
A history of modern music 2011 *
IDJ Magazine The 50 Greatest Dance Singles 2004 37
Mixmag The 100 Best Dance Singles of All Time 1996 12
Mojo The 100 Records That Changed the World 2007 96
Gary Mulholland This Is Uncool: The 500 Best Singles Since Punk Rock 2002 *
Muzik The 50 Most Influential Records of All Time 2003 *
NME The 100 Best Songs of NME's Lifetime 2012 79
The 100 Best Songs of the 1970s 6
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2014 3
Q The 50 Most Exciting Tunes Ever 2002 44
100 Songs That Changed the World 2003 36
The 1001 Best Songs Ever *
The 1010 Songs You Must Own 2004 *
Top 20 Singles from 1970-1979 3
The Ultimate Music Collection 2005 *
Paul Roland CD Guide to Pop & Rock, 100 Essential Singles 2001 *
Uncut The 100 Greatest Singles from the Post-Punk Era 11
100 Rock and Movie Icons 2005 68
Blender United States Standout Tracks from the 500 CDs You Must Own 2003 *
Dave Marsh, Kevin Stein The 40 Best of the Top 40 Singles by Year 1981 15
Michaelangelo Matos Top 100 Singles of the 1970s 2001 4
Pitchfork The Pitchfork 500 2008 *
The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s[23] 2016 4
PopMatters The 100 Best Songs Since Johnny Rotten Roared 2003 38
Rolling Stone The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2004 411
40 Songs That Changed the World 2007 *
Time The All-Time 100 Songs 2011 *
Treble The Top 200 Songs of the 1970s 2012 14
(*) designates lists that are unordered.

Charts[edit]

Patrick Cowley remix[edit]

In 1978, disco and hi-NRG DJ Patrick Cowley created a 15:43 remix of "I Feel Love" which, despite not impressing Moroder, became a popular "underground classic" available only on acetate discs.[47] The remix used loops, keeping the song's bass-line going for extended passages of overdubbed effects and synthesiser parts.

In mid-1980, Cowley's mix was released with the title "I Feel Love / I Feel Megalove" and subtitle "The Patrick Cowley MegaMix", but only on a limited vinyl pressing by the DJ-only subscription service Disconet.[47] Since this pressing was not available to the general public for commercial sale, it became highly sought after by collectors.

In 1982, the mix was released on a commercially available 12" single in the UK market by Casablanca, backed with an 8-minute edited version.[48] With this wider release, "I Feel Love" became a dance floor hit again, five years after its debut. A further-edited 7" single reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.

The Patrick Cowley mix was out of print until it was released on the bonus disc of the 2003 UK edition of The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer and the Ben Liebrand compilation album Grand 12-Inches. It also exists on the 2013 double disc I Feel Love: The Collection.

1985 version and 1995 remixes[edit]

In 1985, Bronski Beat with singer Jimmy Sommerville joined up with singer Marc Almond to record a version of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love". The full version was actually a medley that also incorporated snippets of Summer's "Love to Love You Baby" and John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me". It was a big success, reaching 3 in the UK.[11] Although the original had been one of Marc Almond’s all-time favourite songs, he had never read the lyrics and thus incorrectly sang "What’ll it be, what’ll it be, you and me" instead of "Falling free, falling free, falling free" on the finished record.

Following 1993's The Donna Summer Anthology and 1994's Endless Summer: Greatest Hits, both released by PolyGram, "I Feel Love" was re-released on the PolyGram sublabel Manifesto in a newly remixed form as a single in 1995, including mixes by Masters At Work and Rollo Armstrong and Sister Bliss of UK remixer/producer team Faithless – and also new vocals by Summer. The single became a UK number 8 hit,[38] the second time the song had entered the Top 10,[38] and the '95 Radio Edit was later included as a bonus track on PolyGram France's version of the Endless Summer compilation. The 1995 release also peaked at number 80 in Australia.[49]

Charts[edit]

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA Charts)[citation needed] 80
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[50] 15
France (SNEP)[51] 33
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[52] 8
UK Dance (Official Charts Company)[53] 1

External links[edit]

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

References[edit]

  1. ^ Benjamin Genocchio;"Exploring the Effects of Disco's Beat", The New York Times, February 19, 2006.
  2. ^ David Cheal, "The Life of a Song: 'I Feel Love'", Financial Times, June 3, 2016. full text
  3. ^ "President Obama leads Donna Summer tributes". BBC News Online. May 18, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2012. 
  4. ^ "Complete National Recording Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  5. ^ "Nominate - National Recording Preservation Board". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  6. ^ Jason Ankeny. "I Feel Love - Donna Summer | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-12. 
  7. ^ Lawrence, Tim (2004). Love Saves the Day: a history of American dance music culture, 1970-1979 (2. ed.). Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. p. 254. ISBN 0822331985. 
  8. ^ "Donna Summer biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-03-12. Eschewing the strings and typical disco excess, 'I Feel Love' was the first major pop hit recorded with an entirely synthesized backing track; its lean, sleek arrangement and driving, hypnotic pulse laid the groundwork not only for countless Euro-dance imitators, but also for the house music revolution of the 1980s and '90s. 
  9. ^ Buskin, Richard (October 2009). "Donna Summer 'I Feel Love'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 2017-07-26. 
  10. ^ McConville, Davo (April 29, 2014). "How We Made: Giorgio Moroder on "I Feel Love"". Noisy.vice.com. Retrieved 2017-07-26. 
  11. ^ "Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Vinyl)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-10-12. 
  12. ^ David Bowie and Kurt Loder (1989). Sound + Vision: CD liner notes
  13. ^ Lawrence (2004). Love Saves the Day. p. 253. 
  14. ^ "Donna Summer I Feel Love". Pop Icons. Feb 24, 2015. Retrieved May 19, 2016. 
  15. ^ "Official Charts Analysis: UK suffers lowest album sales week since 1996". MusicWeek. May 21, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2012. 
  16. ^ Lane, Daniel (June 27, 2013). "Daft Punk's Get Lucky becomes one of the UK's biggest selling singles of all-time!". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 2, 2014. 
  17. ^ a b "Song from the Future: The Story of Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 25 November 2017. 
  18. ^ "The 100 Greatest Dance Singles of All Time". ravehistory.homestead.com. Retrieved 2017-03-04. 
  19. ^ "100 Greatest Dance Songs". Slant Magazine. 30 January 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2017. 
  20. ^ Richard Vine (2011-06-15). "Donna Summer's I Feel Love". www.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-12. 
  21. ^ WHAT IS THE GREATEST DANCE TRACK OF ALL TIME?. Mixmag, 2013
  22. ^ "I Feel Love". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  23. ^ "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". Pitchfork. August 22, 2016. p. 10. Retrieved December 3, 2017. 
  24. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St. Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 300. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. 
  25. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Donna Summer – I Feel Love" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  26. ^ "Ultratop.be – Donna Summer – I Feel Love" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  27. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5454a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  28. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Donna Summer – I Feel Love". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  29. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Feel Love". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  30. ^ "Indice per Interprete: S". Hit Parade Italia (in Italian). Retrieved June 7, 2018. 
  31. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 37, 1977" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  32. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Donna Summer – I Feel Love" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  33. ^ "Charts.nz – Donna Summer – I Feel Love". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  34. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Donna Summer – I Feel Love". VG-lista. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  35. ^ Fernando Salaverri (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. 
  36. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Donna Summer – I Feel Love". Singles Top 100. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  37. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Donna Summer – I Feel Love". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  38. ^ a b c "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  39. ^ [Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002]
  40. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 234. 
  41. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St. Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 429. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. 
  42. ^ Bac-lac.gc.ca
  43. ^ HitParade Italia
  44. ^ "Top Selling Singles of 1977 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1977-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-12. 
  45. ^ Hunter, Nigel; Scaping, Peter, eds. (1978). "Top 100 Singles in 1977". BPI Year Book 1978 (3rd ed.). London, England: The British Phonographic Industry Ltd. pp. 216–17. ISBN 0-906154-01-4. 
  46. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-07-26. 
  47. ^ a b DJ News Vol. 3 Program 7, Disconet, June 1980, retrieved 2010-07-17 
  48. ^ "I Feel Love release info". Discogs. Retrieved April 18, 2011. 
  49. ^ "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 03 Dec 1995". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved July 17, 2017.  N.B. The HP column displays the highest peak reached.
  50. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. September 16, 1995. Retrieved April 9, 2018. 
  51. ^ "Lescharts.com – Donna Summer – I Feel Love" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  52. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
  53. ^ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
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