It is 6:30 a.m., dark in Vitruvian Park except for the lighted trail and parking lots. I am walking in the silent stillness until I get closer to a parking lot. The familiar, melodic strains of “I Will Survive” fill my ears and my heart. It is coming from an exercise class meeting in the lighted parking lot. The song topped the charts in 1979 and earned a Grammy in 1980. I had been married barely 5 years, and my husband was quite the music aficionado. I think he bought records/CDs every week. I heard the song often on the radio and in my home. It was really the foreshadowing of my divorce 11 years later since it is about a woman who was mistreated but has learned to rise above her situation and become independent. And the title of the track is also an anthem of positivity for the chaos in our world right now. Things might not be normal; they may seem strange. But there is hope. Don’t ever forget that.
According to Wikipedia, "I Will Survive" is a hit song first performed by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978. It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. A top-selling song, it is a popular disco anthem, as well as being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The song's lyrics describe the narrator's discovery of personal strength following an initially devastating breakup. It received heavy airplay in 1979, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart on consecutive weeks. The song is also frequently recalled as a symbol of female empowerment. In 2016, the Library of Congress deemed Gaynor's original recording to be "culturally, historically, or artistically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
According to the March 8, 2019 article “The Story of ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor” at smoothradio.com, Dino Fekaris provided the majority of the lyrics. He also wrote other songs for Gloria Gaynor, but this was his only huge success as a writer.
Perren also wrote disco favorites “Boogie Fever” by The Sylvers and “Shake Your Groove Thing” by Peaches & Herb. He was also part of Motown's The Corporation, who wrote classics including “I Want You Back” and “ABC” by The Jackson 5. He passed away at the age of 61 in 2004.
Dino Fekaris revealed “I Will Survive” was about getting fired by Motown Records, where he was a staff writer.
He told Songfacts: "They let me go after almost seven years. I was an unemployed songwriter contemplating my fate. I turned the TV on, and there it was: a song I had written for a movie theme titled “Generation” was playing right then. The song was performed by Rare Earth.
"I took that as an omen that things were going to work out for me,” he said. “I remember jumping up and down on the bed saying, 'I'm going to make it. I'm going to be a songwriter. I will survive!'"
Gloria Gaynor herself once said: "I love the empowering effect; I love the encouraging effect. It's a timeless lyric that addresses a timeless concern."
When Perren and Fekaris left Motown, they formed their own production duo and soon scored a hit with Peaches & Herb's “Reunited.”
When they wrote “I Will Survive,” they didn't have anyone to sing it. They agreed that the next diva that found them would get the song.
This ended up being Gloria Gaynor, whose record company called Perren looking for production on a song called “Substitute,” a song originally by the Righteous Brothers. Gaynor then agreed to record “I Will Survive” as the B-side.
Although everyone who worked on the song knew it was superior to the A-side, the president of Gaynor's record company specifically wanted “Substitute,” and released it as the A-side as planned.
“Substitute” only peaked at No. 107 in October 1978 in the U.S., but club DJs started playing the B-side instead, and soon radio stations joined in.
Polydor eventually released the single with the sides flipped, and “I Will Survive” became an international hit, reaching No. 1 in both the UK and U.S.
According to the article “’I Will Survive’ wins the first—and last—Grammy ever awarded for Best Disco Recording” at history.com, after watching it utterly dominate the musical landscape of the late 1970s, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave disco their stamp of approval, deciding to give a Grammy award for Best Disco Recording, just as the musical style was preparing to die. The first and final Grammy for Best Disco Recording was awarded on February 27, 1980, to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”
According to Wikipedia, following the success of fellow 1970s disco stars Sister Sledge with remixed singles in the UK in 1993, "I Will Survive" was also remixed and released that summer. This remix reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.
In November 2013, Gaynor released a gospel album entitled “We Will Survive,” which includes a new, updated remix of "I Will Survive" by DJ Shpank in both extended and radio edit formats.
Cake covered the song soft rock-style in 1996, on their album “Fashion Nugget.” In addition to many subtle changes, lead singer John McCrea altered the lyrics — leading Gaynor to describe the cover as her least favorite version of the song, due to the presence of "profanity" - in the line originally rendered as "I should've changed my stupid lock." The music video of Cake's version features McCrea as a city parking enforcement officer driving around in a Cushman three-wheeled scooter as he leaves tickets on various cars. This version was a top 30 hit for the band in March 1997 on the US Modern Rock Tracks, peaking at No. 28.
In 1996, American singer Diana Ross released a cover of "I Will Survive." It was released on her 1995 album, “Take Me Higher.” The song is produced by Narada Michael Walden and peaked at No. 14 in the United Kingdom. It also reached No. 3 in Iceland and No. 16 in Scotland. In the United States, it peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard Dance Music Charts.
Popular culture
In 1998, the song became an anthem and gained more popularity in France when the France national football team won the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
In 1999, Gaynor performed the song at the school prom on “That ‘70s Show” episode 19 "Prom Night" to cheer up a disheartened, lovelorn Fez, who disco-dances and bumps with her as the song is performed. Her character said that it was something she was working on; the episode took place in 1977, the year before Gaynor released the song.
It is featured in the 1994 Australian film “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” as a lip sync song performed by drag queens Mitzi Del Bra (Hugo Weaving), Bernadette Bassinger (Terence Stamp) and Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce) at an Australian Aboriginal corroboree.
It was featured in the jail scene and closing for the 2000 movie “The Replacements.”
It is featured on video games SingStar Dance and Just Dance 2014, released in 2013.
It is featured during the ending credits of the 2015 movie “The Martian,” in which the protagonist Mark Watney was left behind on Mars must find a way to survive.
In the French film “One Man and His Cow” (La Vache, 2016), the protagonist sings a Raï-style version of the song at a village festival.
It appears in a 2017 TV commercial for Capital One, which features Gaynor and Charles Barkley.
"I Will Survive" has been covered in several animated films. In “Rio 2,” it was sung by Nigel the cockatoo, played by Jemaine Clement. The 2008 Danish-German film “Disco Ormene” (known in English as “Sunshine Barry & the Disco Worms”) features the song performed by Gloria the earthworm (Trine Dyrholm). In 2007's “Noah’s Ark,”, an Argentine-Italian animated comedy adventure film, a version of the song is performed by a panther named Panthy.
"I Will Survive" has been featured as welcome back return song for broadcasting legend Tony Blackburn to BBC Radio on New Year's Eve 2016 after his temporary departure.
According to Karen Grigsby Bates’ article "'I Will Survive’ Saved Marginalized People A Spot On The Dance Floor” at National Public Radio, Karen Tongson, a professor at the University of Southern California who often lectures on pop culture, says she remembers first hearing the song in the 1990s through its cover versions, then learning the history behind Gaynor's original.
"It was especially significant for me, because I'd just come out," she recalls. "The song had long associations with the LGBT community as an anthem ... but in my newfound activism, in my new awareness around the different struggles the community faced — particularly around the AIDS crisis — I heard the song with new ears."
She wasn't the only one. Beyond gay communities, "I Will Survive" has become a global anthem for those who have felt politically oppressed, physically challenged or otherwise pushed to society's margins.
That includes survivors of domestic abuse, for whom Gloria Gaynor herself has become a spokesperson. Cindy Southworth heads the National Network to End Domestic Violence, where Gaynor is an advocate; she remembers when the singer appeared at the organization's global conference in 2012.
"She sang her song," Southworth says, "and singing along with her were 1,500 advocates from across the globe — many of them survivors themselves, singing in beautiful accents."
Tongson says it's the progression of the lyrics from despair to empowerment that make "I Will Survive" a deeply personal song for a lot of people: "That chorus is like coming out of the dark and into the light." Set to a driving beat, its message is one that anyone who hears it can claim as their own. It is an anthem for people who have survived whatever life has thrown at them."
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