“Last Dance” was one of those disco/pop staples that the late, great Donna Summer (1948-2012) brought to the top of the charts worldwide in the second half of the seventies. This evergreen was penned by the late singer/songwriter Paul Jabara (1948-1992). “Last Dance” was included on the soundtrack of the 1978 disco movie, Thank God It’s Friday. Starring alongside Ms. Summer were talented newcomers including Jeff Goldblum and Debra Winger plus The Commodores, the famous soul/r&b group.

Jabara put “Last Dance” in the capable hands of songwriter/arranger Bob Esty who provided him a couple of smart ideas to complete the song. Here’s how Esty reminisced about the song’s recording in a recent interview on the popmatters.com website:

“I did the arrangement on piano, my favorite track was (Diana Ross’) ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,’ which was slow in the beginning. I thought that Ashford & Simpson were a great team to think of [making the beginning slow]. Taking that idea, I started ‘Last Dance’ slow, because Paul wrote it slow, and then increased the tempo. It had to come to life! I wrote the bridge that begins with ‘Will you be my Mr. Right’ and ends with ‘all that I ask is that you dance with me’. Then I thought to myself, maybe I could go back to the ballad halfway through, even though the DJs would kill me!”

The gifted music-maker Giorgio Moroder was also Ms. Summer’s first producer and cut her vocals. Meanwhile, Esty produced the instrumental track featuring a bunch of session aces including David Foster playing synthesizers. The entire backing track was made in just one day, rhythm section in the morning and the string and horn parts played later on. Thanks to Esty’s top-notch arrangement, the fantastic playing and Ms. Summer’s classic vocal performance, “Last Dance” turned out as total ear-candy and rightly achieved its evergreen status. The song won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for “Best Original Song” as well as a Grammy for “Best R&B Vocal Performance Female.” It also skyrocketed on the charts to #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100, #5 on the R&B chart and #1 on the Dance chart.

One of Ms. Summer’s final public performances of “Last Dance” was on Foster’s Hitman Returns extravaganza in 2011. She talked with Foster about the original recording before tearing the theatre down with a rousing rendition.

Listen

Lead Vocals: Donna Summer
Keyboards: Bob Esty
Synthesizers: David Foster

Arranged by Bob Esty
Produced by Giorgio Moroder & Bob Esty

Lyrics

Last dance
Last chance for love
Yes, it’s my last chance
For romance tonight

I need you by me
Beside me, to guide me
To hold me, to scold me
‘Cause when I’m bad
I’m so, so bad

So let’s dance the last dance
Let’s dance the last dance
Let’s dance this last dance tonight

Last dance
Last dance for love
Yes, it’s my last chance
For romance tonight

Oh oh I need you by me
Beside me, to guide me
To hold me, to scold me
‘Cause when I’m bad
I’m so, so bad

So let’s dance, the last dance
Let’s dance, the last dance
Let’s dance, the last dance tonight

Oh oh I need you by me
Beside me, to guide me
To hold me, to scold me
‘Cause when I’m bad
I’m so, so bad

So c’mon baby
Dance that dance
C’mon baby
Dance that dance
C’mon baby
Last dance tonight

Yeah yeah

written Paul Jabara & Jay Asher

The late Paul Jabara was a talented singer, songwriter and actor who wrote or co-wrote, in the second half of the seventies, timeless disco hits like “Last Dance” for Donna Summer, “Main Event/Fight” for Barbra Streisand, “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)” for Summer and Streisand and “(It’s) Raining Men” for The Weather Girls.

On the heels of his success as songwriter, Jabara, released three solo albums for Casablanca Records including “Keeping Time.” Released in 1978, that album was a good disco/pop collection produced by Bob Esty. Among the most interesting moments are a slowed-down version of Jabara’s Academy Award winning song, “Last Dance,” an up-tempo goodie entitled “Trapped In A Stairway” that was included in the soundtrack of the movie “Thank God It’s Friday” and a disco anthem entitled “Pleasure Island” that was the main single off the album. There’s also a beautiful ballad that Jabara co-wrote with Jay Asher entitled “Something’s Missing (In My Life).” That song was perfectly arranged by Esty and presented an incredible line-up of top notch musicians with David Foster on keyboards, Steve Lukather and Jay Graydon on guitars but also studio greats David Hungate on bass and Ed Greene on drums. “Something’s Missing (In My Life)” resurfaced years later with Summer on lead vocals and that version can be found on Jabara’s 1989 cd “Greatest Hits And Misses.” The song’s appeal must have been clear to Karen Carpenter who recorded it in 1979 for her solo album though it didn’t make the final cut while it became a big hit in Australia later on for singer Marcia Hines. Jabara’s “Keeping Time” is a valid  testament of the disco era with its light atmospheres but also solid songwriting and impeccable instrumental performances. It remains to be said that Foster also played keyboards on “Pleasure Island” and the up-tempo opener, “Didn’t The Time Go Fast.”

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/something_s_missing.mp3|titles=Something’s Missing|artists=Paul Jabara]

Lead Vocals: Paul Jabara
Bass: David Hungate
Drums: Ed Greene
Guitar: Steve Lukather
Guitar & Solo: Jay Graydon
Electric Piano: David Foster
Acoustic Piano: Bob Esty
Percussion: Alan Estes
Backing Vocals: Bob Esty, Michele Aller & Pattie Brooks

Produced & Arranged by Bob Esty.

Lyrics

5:52 am..
I’m awake
and thinkin ’bout my life
5:53
I can see
I won’t sleep a wink tonight
6 am,
where’s my pen?
I might as well get up and write a song
And try to work out
why when everything seems right,
why do I feel so alone?

Something missing
in my life…
could it be you,
could it be you and me?
Something’s missing in my life,
Aww come and be
right where I need you to be
For all my life.
All my life…

Got my house,
got my fancy car,
everything’s going like I planned so far,
But something’s not there,
that should be there
I gotta find it somewhere,

Since the day you left my side,
I’ve torn myself apart
and I still can’t decide,
Is it you I need
or did you really hurt my pride?

Something’s missing in my life,
baby it’s you,
maybe it’s you and me…
If you’re what’s missing in my life,
then baby come to me,
come feel the need in me.
For all my life….

Something’s missing in my life,
could it be you,
could it be you and me?
Something’s missing in my life,
aww come and be
right where I need you to be ….

You’re what’s missing in my life,
aww come and be
right where I need you to be…..