luxken27 | 100 Songs That Have Moved Me | Song #002: "I Will Survive" (1978)

Title: "I Will Survive"
Artist: Gloria Gaynor
Composers: Freddie Perren, Dino Fekaris
Producer: Dino Fekaris
Release Date: October 27, 1978
Peak Chart Position: #1 (Dance Club Songs)
Album: Love Tracks (1978)

Rolling Stone metadata:

Rank: #492

Blurb: In 1979, Gaynor's career was falling apart. Donna Summer had replaced her as the leading disco diva, and the 32-year-old Gaynor had recently suffered the death of her mother and had undergone spinal surgery. So when she belted out "I Will Survive," she brought extra attitude. The track was originally a B side, but after enterprising DJs started to play it at discos, it turned into a smash. (Source)

Words from the artist:

Not only did Gloria Gaynor and her husband know that "I Will Survive" was going to be a hit song, but they knew that everyone was going to be able to relate to it, and felt it had "timeless" lyrics. They wanted "I Will Survive" for the "A" side, but since they couldn't convince Polydor of that, Gloria and her husband decided to put it in her live shows as the last song so that everyone would remember it. They also took copies of the record and brought it to such notable New York DJs as Richie Kazar of Studio 54, who immediately loved and played it to a packed dance floor. Richie, in turn, passed it on to other club DJs, and it eventually wound up being played on New York's most popular Disco radio station, WKTU, which was then known as "Disco 92."

It's important to note that just before "I Will Survive" was recorded, Gloria Gaynor had suffered a very serious fall on stage. She woke up the next morning in the hospital to discover that she was paralyzed from the waist down. The accident almost left her permanently paralyzed. She told me that in order to record and perform, she had to wear a brace - after much surgery, which made it very painful to walk, let alone perform. During this time Gaynor explains, "I began to have a spiritual awakening, and decided that I wanted to have more purpose to my singing than people just having a good time. Not that there was anything wrong with people having a good time - and I still want people to have a good time with my music, but I wanted something they could take away from the clubs with them. That's why I chose 'I Will Survive,' and I wanted to continue as often as possible to give them songs that would have positive impact on their lives."

It is also at this time that some were heralding the death of her career, with lines such as "the queen of Disco is dead." She says, "There were so many people saying the queen is dead. Saying that I was never going to make it. I was never going to come back into the business, and that it was all over for me, and they made me determined that it was not going to happen to me." I asked Gaynor if anyone in the music industry helped and she emphatically states, "No, it was just me, my family, and my husband (who was just my boyfriend at the time), and my faith." It was at this time that Gaynor also married her present husband, just after the release of "I Will Survive" in October of 1978. The empowering lyrics in "I Will Survive" were very fitting indeed, and a theme she stays with till this day. (Source)

Originally released as the B-side to a cover version of the Righteous Brothers song "Substitute", "I Will Survive" became a worldwide hit for Gaynor when disc jockeys played that side of the record instead. New copies of the record were eventually pressed with "I Will Survive" as the A-side ("Substitute" itself peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, equaling to number 107 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart).

As a disco number, the song was unique for its time by virtue of Gaynor's having no background singers. And, unlike her first disco hits, the track was not pitched up to make it faster and to render Gaynor's recorded voice in a higher register than that in which she actually sang. Most disco hits at the time were heavily produced, with multiple voices, overdubs, and adjustments to pitch and speed. "I Will Survive" had a much more spare and "clean" sound. Had it been originally planned and released as an A-side, it would almost certainly have undergone a substantially more heavy-handed remix. (Source)

How this song moves me:

This is THE woman's power-anthem; all it takes is hearing those first few bars and the opening lyric - At first I was afraid, I was petrified - and the adrenaline starts pumping. I think it's impossible to listen to this song and not sing along, which is probably why it's a huge karaoke favorite.

I love the message of this song - of a woman telling her ex-lover to basically fuck off, and that she will survive their breakup - and I love the sass and strength of Gloria's voice as she sings it. Even though she didn't write it, she sings it like she's lived it, which is what drew me to this song. She emphasizes all the right words, makes all the right moves on stage when she's singing it. I think it's a great example of a singer transcending someone else's words to truly make the song their own.

Not until I looked up the specifics of this song for this post did I realize how unique it was as a disco number. I like that it's basically a solo, with no heavy production-added features. The pace is just right to sing and dance to, a perfect mix to blast out and bust a move, whichever you feel like doing at the moment :P I love music that makes you want to move, that gets inside you and makes your heart beat in cadence to it. It's a visceral experience for me, made all the more real by the lyrics.

What a wonderful attitude to have, what strong words to hear at your most vulnerable point. You will survive, because you still have "all your life to live" and "all your love to give" - nobody can take it from you, which is such a common thread in so many romances.

100 Songs That Have Moved Me | Song #002: "I Will Survive" (1978)

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