Dim All the Lights

"Dim All the Lights"
Single by Donna Summer
from the album Bad Girls
B-side	"There Will Always Be a You"
Released	August 1979
Format	7" single, 12" single
Recorded	1979
Genre	Disco, Soul
Length	4:40
Label	Casablanca
Writer(s)	Donna Summer
Producer(s)	Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte
Certification	Gold (US)
Donna Summer singles chronology
"Bad Girls" (1979) "Dim All the Lights" (1979) "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (1979)
Bad Girls track listing "Walk Away" (4) "Dim All the Lights" (5) "Journey to the Center of Your Heart" (6)

"Dim All the Lights" is a song by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer that bowed at #70 on 25 August 1979 and peaked at #2 on 10–17 November 1979 on the Hot 100. Taken from her Bad Girls album and produced by her longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder with Pete Bellotte, the track combines Summer's trademark disco beats with a more soulful/pop sound. This was the third Hot 100 top two single from the album and her sixth consecutive Hot 100 top five single.

Background

Summer had released "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" and "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" duet with Barbra Streisand which reached position 1. "Dim All the Lights" was another massive hit for her, reaching number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 29 on the UK Singles Chart. Like "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls" before, "Dim All The Lights" and "No More Tears" were simultaneously in the top three, but missed having the top two positions, on the Hot 100.^[1]

"Dim All the Lights" was Summer's only hit single that she wrote alone. She had originally intended to give the song to Rod Stewart but changed her mind. The song was nominated for Best Disco Recording at the 22nd Grammy Awards in 1980.^[2]

The recording is remarkable for a sustained note held by Summer for about sixteen seconds.^[2]

Official versions

• Album version – 4:40
• 7" version – 3:59
• 12" version – 7:09

Chart positions

Laura Branigan version

"Dim All the Lights"
Single by Laura Branigan
from the album The Best of Branigan
Released	1995
Format	CD single, cassette single, 12" single
Genre	Pop, dance
Length	4:44
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Donna Summer
Producer(s)	Brinsley Evans
Laura Branigan singles chronology
"How Can I Help You to Say Goodbye" (1994) "Dim All the Lights" (1995) "Self Control 2004" (2004)

Laura Branigan had a Top 40 Dance hit in 1995 with her cover version. The single version appears on her US hits collection, The Best of Branigan.^[4] While Branigan's version was released in several mixes by Atlantic Records, a popular version in some Hi-NRG clubs at the time came from the DJ-only label Hot Traxx, which gave clubgoers two singers in one song, editing Donna Summer's original in with Branigan's remake. A video for the single, showing Branigan surrounded by a bevy of drag queens (Miss Understood, Hedda Lettuce and Vivacious), was her last, and the release was the end of her association with the label, as she left the music industry to care for her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

Track listings

US CD single

1. "Dim All the Lights" – 4:44
2. "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab edit) – 4:14

US 12" single

1. "Dim All the Lights" (Stonebridge Main Mix) – 6:39
2. "Dim All the Lights" (Monday Bar Dub) – 6:43
3. "Dim All the Lights" (Stonebridge Straight Mix) – 5:52
4. "Dim All the Lights" (Stonebridge edit) – 3:26
5. "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab edit) – 4:14

US 12" promo single

1. "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab Club version) – 5:52
2. "Dim All the Lights" (Ehab's Rehab edit) – 4:14
3. "Dim All the Lights" – 4:44
4. "Dim All the Lights" (Instrumental) – 4:44

Official versions

• Album version – 4:44
• Instrumental – 4:44
• Ehab's Rehab Club version – 5:52
• Ehab's Rehab edit – 4:14
• Stonebridge Main Mix – 6:39
• Stonebridge Straight Mix – 5:52
• Stonebridge edit – 3:26
• Monday Bar Dub – 6:43

Charts

Other cover versions

In 2007, the song was sampled by the French electronic duo Justice, for the song "B.E.A.T.", which is a re-edit of their song "D.A.N.C.E.".

References