Dim All the Lights
Encyclopedia
"Dim All the Lights" is a song by Donna Summer
released as a single in the latter half of 1979. Taken from her Bad Girls
album and produced by longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder
with Pete Bellotte
, the track combines Summer's trademark disco
beats with a more soulful
/R&B
-esque sound. This was the third top two single from the album and her sixth consecutive top five single in a row.
" duet with Barbara Streisand climbing to #1 at the same time, "Dim All the Lights" was another massive hit for the diva, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100
singles chart and number 29 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Dim All the Lights" was Summer's only hit single that she wrote alone, with no co-writers. She originally intended to give the song to Rod Stewart, but changed her mind at the last minute.
This song also contains the longest sustained note sung by a female artist in a top 40 song in both the US and the UK, at about sixteen seconds. Played at 45 rpm, the recording starts at a nearly perfect 60 beats per second, then shifts to a nearly perfect 120 beats per second after the doubling in tempo at about 38 seconds (short intro version) or 46 seconds (long intro version).
had a Top 40 Dance hit in 1995 with her own faithful cover of the disco classic. The single version appears on her US greatest hits collection, The Best of Branigan. While Branigan's version was released in several mixes by Atlantic Records
, a popular version in some Hi-NRG
clubs at the time came from DJ-only label Hot Traxx, which gave clubgoers two divas in one song, editing Donna Summer's original in with Branigan's remake. A video for the single, featuring Branigan surrounded by a bevy of drag queens (Miss Understood
, Hedda Lettuce
, and Vivacious), would be her last, and the release marked the end of her association with the label, as she pulled back from the music scene to care for her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.
US 12" single
US 12" Promo single
, for the song B.E.A.T, which is a re-edit of their song D.A.N.C.E.
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
released as a single in the latter half of 1979. Taken from her Bad Girls
Bad Girls (album)
Bad Girls is the seventh studio album by American pop singer Donna Summer, released April 25, 1979 on Casablanca Records. Originally issued as a double album, it incorporates such musical styles as disco, soul, and rock...
album and produced by longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
with Pete Bellotte
Pete Bellotte
Peter J. Bellotte is a British songwriter and record producer, most famous for hismain body of work with Donna Summer alongside his partner Giorgio Moroder...
, the track combines Summer's trademark disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
beats with a more soulful
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
/R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
-esque sound. This was the third top two single from the album and her sixth consecutive top five single in a row.
Background
Hot on the heels of previous back-to-back successes "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" as well as her "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)No More Tears (Enough is Enough)
"No More Tears " is a duet from 1979 by Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand. While Summer was famous for her disco material and Streisand for her more easy listening and soundtrack work , this song fused both sounds with a slow beginning which then develops into a disco song...
" duet with Barbara Streisand climbing to #1 at the same time, "Dim All the Lights" was another massive hit for the diva, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart and number 29 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Dim All the Lights" was Summer's only hit single that she wrote alone, with no co-writers. She originally intended to give the song to Rod Stewart, but changed her mind at the last minute.
This song also contains the longest sustained note sung by a female artist in a top 40 song in both the US and the UK, at about sixteen seconds. Played at 45 rpm, the recording starts at a nearly perfect 60 beats per second, then shifts to a nearly perfect 120 beats per second after the doubling in tempo at about 38 seconds (short intro version) or 46 seconds (long intro version).
Chart positions
| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Dutch GfK GfK The GfK Group, established in 1934 as Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung is Germany's largest market research institute, and the fourth largest market research organisation in the world, after Nielsen Company, Kantar Group, and IMS Health... chart |
28 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 2 |
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
54 |
Laura Branigan version
Laura BraniganLaura Branigan
Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
had a Top 40 Dance hit in 1995 with her own faithful cover of the disco classic. The single version appears on her US greatest hits collection, The Best of Branigan. While Branigan's version was released in several mixes by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, a popular version in some Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG describes a form of high-tempo disco music as well as a genre of electronic dance music originating in the United States during the late 1970s...
clubs at the time came from DJ-only label Hot Traxx, which gave clubgoers two divas in one song, editing Donna Summer's original in with Branigan's remake. A video for the single, featuring Branigan surrounded by a bevy of drag queens (Miss Understood
Miss Understood
Miss Understood is an American drag queen originally from Levittown, New York, who has been based in New York City since the late 1980s. She was a prominent figure in the East Village drag scene of the early 1990s which revolved around the legendary Pyramid Club and Wigstock, an annual open air...
, Hedda Lettuce
Hedda Lettuce
Hedda Lettuce is an American drag queen comedian and singer who lives and works in New York. A legitimate New York actor, Steven Polito, debuted his character Hedda Lettuce in 1991 on the Manhattan Cable TV show The Brenda and Glennda Show. He is one of few drag queens who actually sings live using...
, and Vivacious), would be her last, and the release marked the end of her association with the label, as she pulled back from the music scene to care for her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.
Track listings
US CD single- "Dim All the Lights" – 4:44
- "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab edit) – 4:14
US 12" single
- "Dim All the Lights" (Stonebridge Main Mix) – 6:39
- "Dim All the Lights" (Monday Bar Dub) – 6:43
- "Dim All the Lights" (Stonebridge Straight Mix) – 5:52
- "Dim All the Lights" (Stonebridge edit) – 3:26
- "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab edit) – 4:14
US 12" Promo single
- "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab Club version) – 5:52
- "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab edit) – 4:14
- "Dim All the Lights" – 4:44
- "Dim All the Lights" (Instrumental) – 4:44
Official versions
- Album version – 4:44
- Instrumental – 4:44
- Ehab's Rehab Club version – 5:52
- Ehab's Rehab edit – 4:14
- Stonebridge Main Mix – 6:39
- Stonebridge Straight Mix – 5:52
- Stonebridge edit – 3:26
- Monday Bar Dub – 6:43
Charts
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 36 |
Other cover versions
In 2007 the song was sampled by the French electronic duo JusticeJustice (French band)
Justice is a French electronic music duo consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay . The duo is one of the most successful groups on Ed Banger Records and is managed by the label's head, Pedro Winter...
, for the song B.E.A.T, which is a re-edit of their song D.A.N.C.E.
D.A.N.C.E.
"D.A.N.C.E." is the second single by Justice, and the first from their album †. It includes an edit and extended versions of "D.A.N.C.E", a rougher mix in the style of their earlier releases, "B.E.A.T", and the track "Phantom" which was previously issued in limited quantities twice on 12" vinyl...