Donna Summer, On The Radio | Throwback Vibez

In the 157^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “On The Radio” by Donna Summer.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez ! Throwback Vibez is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils ! All genres of music are welcome. In the 157^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “On The Radio”, performed by Donna Summer.

“Someone found a letter you wrote me on the radio / And they told the world just how you felt,” Donna Summer sings in the first verse of her classic, “On The Radio”. She continues singing, “It must have fallen out of a hole in your own brown overcoat / They never said you name but I knew just who they meant.” Ooh wee! “On The Radio” was one of 14 top-10 hits by the late, Grammy-winning, queen of disco, peaking at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980.  “On The Radio” graces Summer’s 1979 greatest hits compilation, On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II as well as the soundtrack to Foxes.  Initially, it seems as if the record is going to be a ballad, given the slower tempo at the start, but soon enough, Summer brings out the dancing shoes and tempo.

“On the radio, whoa-oh-oh-oh / On the radio, whoa-oh-oh-oh.” Indeed! Matters of the heart continue to dominate this radio-driven gem, where, in verse two, Summer asks her ex, “Don’t it kinda strike you sad when you hear our song /… The only thing that I wanna hear is that you love me still.”  Furthermore, the third verse also focuses on the significance of the radio: “If you think that love isn’t foiund on the radio / Then tune right in, you may find the love you lost.” Woo!  Notably, Summers penned “On The Radio” with a fellow legend, producer Giorgio Moroder.  The supporting backdrop is #EVERYTHING – warm keys, lush strings, and an epic, epic groove.  Of course, the vocals are electric too.  Honestly, EVERYTHING is electric when it comes to “On The Radio” .

Donna Summer • On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II • Mercury • 1979

 Donna Summer, On The Radio: Throwback Vibez No. 157 (2023) [: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Mercury; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]