DONNA SUMMER - I FEEL LOVE

"I Feel Love" és una cançó de la cantant nord-americana Donna Summer, produïda i coescrita per Giorgio Moroder i Pete Bellotte i publicada l'1 de maig de 1977. Va ser gravada per al cinquè àlbum d'estudi de Summer, "I Remember Yesterday". El concepte de l'àlbum era que cada tema evoqués una dècada musical diferent; per a "I Feel Love", l'equip pretenia crear un estat d'ànim futurista, emprant un sintetitzador Moog. 

"I Feel Love” és una combinació brillant de sintetitzador amb la sensual veu de Summer. El ritme és ferotge i absolutament apassionant amb els efectes del sintetitzador especialment agressius i carregats d'emoció. Això era diferent a tot el que Summer, Moroder i Bellotte havien fet abans. Durant la sessió de l'àlbum 'Low' de David Bowie, també gravat a Alemanya, el productor Brian Eno va entrar un dia després d'escoltar 'I Feel Love' per primera vegada i va dir: "He escoltat el so del futur. Això és tot, no busqueu més. Aquest senzill canviarà el so de la música de club durant els propers quinze anys".

"Recordo que, al principi, l’executiu de Casablanca Records Neil Bogart estava interessat, però no tant com m'hagués agradat", recorda Giorgio. De fet, 'I Feel Love' es va publicar originalment com a cara B de la balada 'Can't We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)'. Ningú semblava tenir una idea del que havien fet. "Per a nosaltres era només una pista i ni tan sols ens pensàvem que fos un single", recorda Bellotte. "Definitivament no vam pensar quan es va estrenar, sí, hem fet alguna cosa especial. No em va semblar revolucionari". Però la cançó va començar a enlairar-se als clubs, primer al Regne Unit, on ràpidament es va canviar a la cara A.

Aleshores, el rei de la discoteca a Nova York era Nicky Siano, de The Gallery, que recorda que el cap de promoció de Casablanca, Mark Paul Simon, va assistir a una gran festa al club l'estiu de 1977 amb un acetat del senzill encara inèdit i li va preguntar si podia punxar-lo. "Tothom sabia que els DJ no punxaven res en un club ple sense haver-ho escoltat abans", diu Nicky, que va acceptar escoltar-lo als auriculars. "Vaig respirar profundament i vaig posar el disc al meu tercer tocadiscos. Em vaig posar els auriculars esperant la bona producció habitual de Donna Summer/Giorgio. Però no ho era. Vaig escoltar una línia de sintetitzador sincopada que era més fresca que qualsevol cosa que havia sentit durant anys. No era un disc nou, era un nou estil de producció. Vaig confiar en el meu instint i la vaig fer sonar a la discoteca, plena de gom a gom. Poques vegades una multitud balla un disc amb tant entusiasme la primera vegada que l’escolta. La sala va esclatar i vam experimentar un so que canviaria les cançons de club per sempre". Quan Marc es va negar a deixar que es quedes amb l'acetat, Nicky el va fer expulsar del club. "Nick era tan important per a la indústria musical en aquell moment que va fer que Donna Summer el truqués personalment i li demanés disculpes. Ens vam rebaixar", recorda Simon. 

Amb la seva pista de fons totalment sintetitzada, "I Feel Love" va tenir una influència enorme en el desenvolupament de la música disco, electrònica i techno. Tanmateix, Summer inicialment no estava convençuda. "Giorgio em va portar aquesta cançó de crispetes de blat de moro que havia gravat", va recordar anys més tard, i va dir: 'Què dimonis és això, Giorgio?’”. 

Madonna va començar els seus concerts de Confessions Tour de 2006 amb un medley de la seva cançó "Future Lovers" amb "I feel love".

"I Feel Love" va assolir el sisè lloc de la llista Billboard Hot 100 dels EUA la setmana del 12 de novembre de 1977. Al Regne Unit, va assolir el cim de la llista de singles al juliol de 1977, una posició que va mantenir durant quatre setmanes.

DONNA SUMMER - I FEEL LOVE

"I Feel Love" is a song by American singer Donna Summer, produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte and released on may 1st 1977. It was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, “I Remember Yesterday”. The album concept was to have each track evoke a different musical decade; for "I Feel Love", the team aimed to create a futuristic mood, employing a Moog synthesizer. "I Feel Love" peaked at #6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of November 12, 1977. In the United Kingdom, peaked at the top of the UK Singles Chart in July 1977, a position it maintained for four weeks.

“‘I Feel Love’ is a brilliant combination of whipped-up synthesiser and Summer’s dreamy, driven, ecstatic vocals,” wrote Vince Aletti in his August 13 1977 column for Record World. “The pace is fierce and utterly gripping with the synthesiser effects particularly aggressive and emotionally charged. Again, this is unlike anything Summer, Moroder and Bellotte have done before.” During the session for David Bowie’s ‘Low’ album, also recorded in Germany, producer Brian Eno ran in one day after hearing ‘I Feel Love’ for the first time and said, “I have heard the sound of the future. This is it, look no further. This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next fifteen years.”

“I remember, at the very beginning, [Casablanca MD] Neil Bogart was interested, but not as much as I would have liked,” recalls Giorgio. In fact, ‘I Feel Love’ was originally released as B-side to the ballad ‘Can’t We Just Sit Down (And Talk It Over)’. Nobody seemed to have an inkling of what they had done. “To us it was just a track and we didn’t even think it was a single,” recalls Bellotte. “We definitely did not think when it was released, yes we’ve done something special. It didn’t feel revolutionary.” But the song began to take off in clubs, first in the UK, where it was quickly switched to the A-side.

At the time, the king of disco in NYC was The Gallery’s Nicky Siano, who remembers Casablanca’s head of promotion Mark Paul Simon turning up to a hot packed party at the club in Summer 1977 with an acetate of the as-yet unreleased single and asking him to play it. “Everyone knew DJs didn’t play anything at a packed club without previewing it first,” says Nicky, who agreed to listen to it on his headphones. “I took a deep breath and put the heavy disc on my third turntable. I put my ear up to the headphone expecting the usual very good Donna Summer/Giorgio production. But it was not. I heard a syncopated synth line that was fresher than anything I had heard in years. It wasn’t a new record, it was a new style of production. I trusted my instincts and mixed into it. Rarely a crowd dances to a record so enthusiastically on the first listen. The room exploded and I experienced a sound that would change club songs forever.” When Marc refused to let him keep the acetate, Nicky had him thrown out of the club. “I was so important in the music industry at that time that he had Donna Summer call me personally and apologise. We made up.”

it inevitably had a huge impact on disco, such as Blondie’s pop smash ‘Heart Of Glass’, which moved Debbie Harry to later comment, “Chris and I loved Donna and ‘I Feel Love’; at the time it was quite groundbreaking and commercial and sexy.”

Madonna began her 2006 Confessions Tour concerts with a medley of her song “Future Lovers” that ended with “I feel love”.

With its entirely synthesized backing track, "I Feel Love" was enormously influential in the development of disco, electronica and techno music. However, Summer was initially unconvinced. "Giorgio brought me this popcorn track he had recorded," she later recalled, "and said, 'What the hell is this, Giorgio?'"