Was Donna Summer a good songwriter?

She also co-wrote "Love to Love You Baby"!

She actually wrote.

Summer was a real lyricist. She wrote songs that were recorded by other artists -- "Starting Over Again" by Dolly Parton and "Sometimes Like Butterflies" by Dusty Springfield, among others.

BTW, Madonna and Beyonce are real writers, too. They're not Joni Mitchell but they can get the job done.

[quote] BTW, Madonna and Beyonce are real writers, too.

Beyoncé couldn’t write a ransom note if you cut out the magazine letters for her.

IIRC, if 'Dim All The Lights' hit #1 in 1979, Summer would've been the first female recording artist to hit the top spot with a song she wrote herself. This is why Casablanca wanted Columbia (which had the rights to release the 7" single) to wait a month to release 'No More Tears', to give 'DATL' a head start up the Top 40. Sure enough, despite their 'gentleman's agreement', Columbia released 'NMT' too close to the release of 'DATL'. , and kept Summer's single out of the top spot peaking at #2 - right behind 'NMT'. (Casablanca had the rights to issue 'NMT' on the 12" single, which also went to #1).

Because Columbia released the NMT single a month early, Casablanca retaliated and released Summer's "Greatest Hits - On the Radio" a week after Columbia released Streisand's 'Wet' (the agreement was to release it a month later, and give Streisand a chance to hit the top spot on the album chart). Instead, Summer's album topped the charts and Streisand peaked at #6.

Summer talked about this in detail in her memoir, and said both she and Barbra were furious with what their labels did. (It was the final straw to break Summer from Casablanca). It didn't hurt the relationship between the two divas - they remained friends.

[quote]BTW, Madonna and Beyonce are real writers, too.

No, they're not. Beyonce has a third grade education and can't read.

They're pop songs, not novels. Anyway, she claims to have read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."

Madonna has been complimented by others on the production side of the music business for her songwriting skills.

Donna wrote dim all the lights with rod Stewart in mind.

[quote] They're pop songs, not novels. Anyway, she claims to have read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X."

Beyonce would need assistance reading the back of a Pokémon card.

Yes.

Madonna can write, in her fashion. Beyoncé. Just stop. Mafucking stop.

None of them are Janet Jackson

Beyonce addresses all the casual vitriol against her in the Cowboy Carter show. It is brilliant.

[quote] Beyonce addresses all the casual vitriol against her in the Cowboy Carter show. It is brilliant.

She’s certainly not addressing an envelope.

I had heard - don't know if it was true - that Dolly Parton had wanted to record 'Dim All The Lights' as a country / pop song for one of her albums in the 90s. It could've worked, I think.

Madonna had an entire book by a respected music journalist written about her songwriting prowess. It included dozens and dozens of the best songwriters in the world saying Madonna is one of the greatest, yes greatest, songwriters (lyrically, melody) of all time. Pat Leonard is on record dozens of times saying she wrote all the lyrics on the spot for Live To Tell and Like A Prayer in front of him in less than 30 minutes. She then wrote the bridge and melodies for both. This is just one example. So don’t go there about Madonna. Read the book. It’ll completely change your perception of her. Madonna solo wrote 5 of the 9 songs on her first album including Lucky Star and Burning Up.

Bey is NOT a songwriter. Please.

Donna's 70s catalog is incredible - the album tracks are just as good as the singles, there's not a dud song on any of her albums. Donna's 80s catalog is hit and miss.

Summer really had no choice but to change gears in 1980 as the 'disco backlash' was very real - radio was no longer playing much disco music. She had the voice which could sing 'new wave', R&B, gospel / spiritual, rock, jazz, etc. Unfortunately, she was now under the Geffen label which wanted her to record all the above on one or two albums, and it turned out to be a mess.

True r19. Her music was all over the place, ten different genres on one album.

Toot toot, hey, beep beep…

I think she could have handled that.

Before she died in 2012, she was working on a 'big band' album with David Foster, in which she was going to record songs from the 30s and 40s. Supposedly, about half the album had been recorded (Foster has said her voice was incredible in the recording studio - he had no idea she was suffering from lung cancer, just months before her death). He was going to release this on an EP but it hasn't happened yet. (She was also working on a pop album at the same time with another producer, but nothing has been said about how much she had worked on that).

BUMP

Toby Gad has a new album coming out and it includes a song he recorded with her before she died.