"Love to Love You Donna Summer" Documentary #MusicMonday

The documentary about Donna Summer (the person) dropped at HBO this weekend so of course I had to watch it toot sweet. “Toot toot, hey, beep beep.”

If you know me, then you know I am all in on Donna Summer. “MacArthur Park” is my favorite song of all time. I’m not just a fan, although obviously I do love each and every song. The album “The Wanderer” is a piece of creative genius for the writing alone, let alone the vocals. But I am more than a fan, I’m an admirer. I admire Donna Summer. Her creativity. The way she broke boundaries. Her unwillingness to be pigeonholed. And yes, of course her voice. But please do know that she wrote most of her songs.

The documentary is brilliant. Brilliant. It’s not a history lesson on her music or on the impact she made on music. Although it’s there. The documentary is about Donna Summer the person. The complicated person. The person who struggled with fame, motherhood, religion, sex, and the entertainment industry. She made massive mistakes along the way and she was incredibly naive in so many ways. She was at the center of racism, sexism, homophobia that was attached to disco music. To this day, I don’t and won’t understand why. What on earth is wrong with disco music? Why is it even called disco music? It’s music. Pop music. Music that for me makes me happy. Sometimes healed. I relate to it.

How is the music of say Madonna or Blondie any different than massive singles from Donna Summer. But for some reason that’s not disco music but Donna is. Baffles me.

I honestly used to think back in the day that Donna Summer needed to think of herself more as a brand. I used to think that she needed a good marketing manager. She wouldn’t have wanted that, I know. The documentary proved those points. But if she had marketed herself as the brand she wanted to be, she likely would have experienced even greater longevity and not made the stumbles that shortened her career heights.

As for the “rumor,” it’s time to let that go. She has said her peace, as has her husband and family and now the documentary. She made a foolish hurtful mistake, trust me I felt it. I still feel it. But I honestly don’t think she meant it in the way that it got blown out, since none of the rest of her commentary or life would indicate as such. I’m leaving it there. I’m good with it.

Her boundless creativity is so inspiring. That’s my take away. But her creativity also came with a price, one that she paid over and over again. That’s the sad part. She was deeply troubled and at times very unhappy, but I now understand that those emotions and stages of life are what fueled her boundless creativity. While I hate thinking of her unhappy as she was crafting “Last Dance” or “Dim All The Lights,” I’m at peace knowing that’s what made her who she is. That’s what made Donna Summer the person and all that she produced in the world.

But in the end, and in the end of the documentary, there was a lot of life in that creativity. And in her journey of reinvention and exploration throughout her career.

Exploration. Creativity. Individuality. Determination. “Love to Love You Donna Summer.”

What’s your experience? JIM

PS - This was the last song of the documentary which was just absolutely perfect.

My all time favorite …

And from “The Wanderer” album is the compelling “Who Do You Think You’re Foolin” …

One more cut that never made it to an album, but was the “b side” to a single. “Sometimes Like Butterflies” …