Songoftheday 11/2/12 - Dancin' close feelin' restless, it's a slow sultry night...

Donna Summer - "The Woman In Me"
from the album Donna Summer (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33 (three weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 6

Today's Song of the Day is by the late great queen of disco, Donna Summer, who started her career in Germany, where she had a top-40 hit in 1974 with "Lady Of The Night". A year later, after being signed to Casablanca Records, Donna had her big breakthrough success with the erotic suite "Love To Love You Baby", which went to #2 on the American pop chart, went to top-10 almost everywhere else in the world, and hit #1 in Canada and on the newly-made US dance chart.

By the late 70s, Summer's star shone brights than anybody else in the pop world, her first #1 pop hit came in 1978 - a version of "MacArthur Park", the first of her four pop chart-toppers. After switching labels to Geffen Records, her self-titled second record for the company was produced by Quincy Jones, and gave her another top-10 pop hit with "Love Is In Control", while the followup, "State Of Independence", lingered just below the top-40.

For the third single, "The Woman In Me", Donna's backdrop is more slow and seductive than her normal dance fare, while her vocals were as sexual and inviting as they've ever been.The song, written by Michael Clark and John Bettis, the pair who write "Slow Hand" for the Pointer Sisters, is my favorite slower song of Donna's....

"The Woman In Me" brought Donna back to the top 40 of the pop chart for a month and a half, and also made the R&B chart (#30) and top-20 on the adult-contemporary (soft-rock) chart at #17. It also made the top-40 in Holland and was a minor hit in Great Britain.

It confounds me though that not only is her 1982 album not still in print on CD, but "The Woman In Me" isn't even available on any of her greatest hits sets. I would think they would now capitalize on the new popularity after her untimely death, but as of yet I'm stumped.

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Ten years later, the rock band Heart covered the song on their album Desire Walks On, and released it as a single. It made the top-30 on the adult-contemporary chart, and also was a big hit in Canada, peaking at #13...

Up tomorrow: Three of the "elements" ask for your romance.