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I Will Survive: the story on HearLore | HearLore
I Will Survive
Gloria Gaynor was wearing a back brace when she recorded the song that would become the most enduring anthem of resilience in modern history. The injury came from a fall at a concert, and a recent bereavement weighed heavily on her heart, yet these physical and emotional scars became the very source of the song's power. In the three-hour recording session of 1978, the session musicians spent the vast majority of their time working on the A-side, a track called Substitute. They were left with only thirty-five minutes to record what was intended to be the B-side, a song they did not even know the title of. The musicians improvised the backing track based on chord changes and a few notes, with guitarist Robert Boogie Bowles filling in the bare bones with jazzy blues licks. The song was recorded in two parts and spliced together because the intro did not transition smoothly into the main body. Gaynor, who had just been fired from her previous label and was grieving, found a strange kinship with the lyrics. She later explained that the injury and the loss made her able to sing the song with such conviction that it would never be forgotten.
From Brown Paper To Studio 54
The genesis of the song began not in a grand studio, but in a small room where songwriter Dino Fekaris sat watching television after being fired from Motown Records. He had spent seven years as a staff writer there, and the sudden unemployment left him jobless and adrift. A theme song he had written for the film Generation, performed by the group Rare Earth, happened to be playing on the screen. Fekaris took it as a good omen, jumping up and down on his bed and declaring that he would make it as a songwriter. He teamed up with his collaborator Freddie Perren, another former Motown production team member, to write the song. For two years, the song remained unrecorded because no suitable singer was available. When Polydor Records asked Perren to produce a track for Gaynor in 1978, he agreed on the understanding that he could also produce the B-side. Gaynor was asked what kind of songs she liked, and she replied that she liked songs that were meaningful, had good lyrics, and touched people's hearts. The producers then handed her the lyrics scribbled on a piece of brown paper. Gaynor recognized the song as a hit immediately, but the label refused to release it as the A-side. Her husband took the record to the Studio 54 DJ Richie Kaczor, who loved it. Gaynor gave Kaczor a stack of the records to give to his friends, and other DJs in discos and radio stations soon followed, playing that side of the record instead. The label eventually relented and released the song as an A-side to support the single.
When was the song I Will Survive recorded by Gloria Gaynor?
Gloria Gaynor recorded the song I Will Survive in 1978 during a three-hour session. The musicians spent most of the time on the A-side track called Substitute and had only thirty-five minutes to record the song that became the B-side.
Who wrote the lyrics for the song I Will Survive?
Songwriter Dino Fekaris wrote the lyrics for the song I Will Survive after being fired from Motown Records. He teamed up with his collaborator Freddie Perren to create the track that was eventually given to Gloria Gaynor.
When did the promotional video for I Will Survive featuring Sheila Reid-Pender air?
A promotional video for the song I Will Survive was filmed in 1979 at a New York discothèque called Xenon. The video featured a roller skater named Sheila Reid-Pender from a local group called The Village Wizards performing dance sequences.
How many copies of the song I Will Survive have been sold worldwide?
The song I Will Survive is one of the best-selling singles in history to date with sales exceeding 15 million copies worldwide. It topped the Billboard charts and won Best Disco Recording at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards.
When was the song I Will Survive added to the National Recording Registry?
In 2016, the Library of Congress deemed Gloria Gaynor's original recording of the song I Will Survive to be culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. The organization selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Who covered the song I Will Survive in 1996 and changed the lyrics?
American rock band Cake covered the song I Will Survive for their second album Fashion Nugget in 1996. Lead singer John McCrea altered the lyrics to include profanity which Gloria Gaynor stated she did not like.
A promotional video was filmed in 1979 at a New York discothèque called Xenon, and it featured a roller skater named Sheila Reid-Pender from a local group called The Village Wizards. The video featured Gaynor singing, interspersed with roller skating dance sequences performed by Reid-Pender. Although three videos were filmed that day, the I Will Survive video was the only one to survive. Gaynor was not present during the taping of the roller skating segment of the video. The two women did not meet for the first time until the 7th of July 2014, in New York at the 92nd St. YMCA after Gaynor's lecture and promotional signing of her book We Will Survive. In the book, Gaynor wrote that she wanted everybody, including herself, to believe that they could survive. In 2022, the video was remastered in HD and officially uploaded to Gaynor's YouTube channel, obtaining over 4.5 million views in two months. The video remains a cultural touchstone, capturing the energy of the disco era and the unique collaboration between the singer and the skater.
The Gay Anthem And The Disco Demolition
The song is frequently regarded as an anthem of gay empowerment, as well as a disco staple. It was released as disco's wave was beginning to break, topping the Billboard charts a few months before the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park. Had the story ended there, it would have represented the last, best gasp of a culture beaten into temporary irrelevance by thinly-veiled racism and homophobia. Pitchfork noted that the song probably would have become a gay anthem even without the specter of AIDS. It has an undeniable flair for the dramatic, and after moving through that filigreed piano intro, one can imagine a lone spotlight shining on Gloria Gaynor as she drags the man dumb enough to break her heart and crawl back for more. The song won Best Disco Recording at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards, and also received a nomination for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It is one of the best-selling singles in history to date, having sold over 15 million copies worldwide. In 2016, the Library of Congress deemed Gaynor's original recording to be culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant and selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
The Country Disco And The French Chant
The song's influence extended far beyond the disco era, with numerous artists covering it in different genres. American country artist Billie Jo Spears released a cover in 1979, which was produced by Larry Butler at the Jack Clement Recording Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The track was released in March 1979 by United Artists Records and spent a total of eleven weeks on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, climbing to the number 21 position in June 1979. In Canada, the song was more commercially successful, peaking at number nine on their RPM Country Tracks chart. It also became her fourth single to chart in the United Kingdom, reaching number 47. The song was nominated by the Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1980, and it was Spears's only nomination from the Grammy's. The Dutch group Hermes House Band covered the song in 1994, retitled I Will Survive La La La, topping both the Dutch Top 40 and Single Top 100 charts. In 1998 and 2018, their version reached number one on the French hitlist after the win from the French Team at the FIFA World Cup. The song is also used as a goal tune during home games for Feyenoord, Galatasaray, Celta de Vigo and Amur Khabarovsk.
The Profanity And The Pop Culture
American rock band Cake covered I Will Survive for their second album, Fashion Nugget, in 1996. In addition to many subtle changes, lead singer John McCrea altered the lyrics. Gaynor stated she did not like Cake's version of the song because it used profanity, as McCrea changed the phrase I should've changed that stupid lock to my fucking 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. Their version peaked at number 28 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in March 1997. The song also features prominently in the 2001 episode I Will Survive of the series Ally McBeal. Gaynor makes uncredited appearances in a fictionalized version of herself throughout the episode, performing her song both as a hallucination seen only by Ally McBeal and as her real self, seen by all attending her performance at a club frequented in the show. Madonna covered the song live during The Celebration Tour, which prompted a response from Gaynor who congratulated Madonna on the launch of her tour, wished her well after her mid-2023 health scare and commented tongue-in-cheek that she had excellent taste in music. On the 7th of March 2024, Madonna was joined on stage in Los Angeles by Kylie Minogue, with the two performing the song as a duet.