An ode to Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'

In fact, it even feels like the soundtrack to an extra-terrestrial visit. That shimmering, droning synth is the first sighting. The landing emphasised by the thump of a pulsing bassline and unrelenting disco beat. Finally the dreamy vocal floats out of this metaphorical craft and in a blaze of white light the door drops down. Standing in the mist is the disco queen Donna Summer herself, her multi-tracked vocals sexual yet romantic, fun yet poignant and conveying a level of emotion you didn’t think was possible with just 17 words.

When I was a 12-year-old in the grips of a Blink 182 addiction, Danny Howell's remix was the first version I heard of 'I Feel Love'. It sticks close to the original material and the chords, progression and ecstatic releases of Summer’s descending ‘loooove’ all piqued my interest immediately. But in that context it felt a bit hokey. As if, yeah ok, it must be an old track if it's getting remixed for the present day.

A few years later, when a friend and I were listening to records we'd bought that day, he put on 'I Feel Love'. I knew it was an important song but I'd never really given it the time of day because of that remix. When it hit the platter, the nuances in the bassline and the warm drive of the kick drum really hit me. This couldn't be brought into the present day by a remix. The original created the fucking future.

Louis Anderson-Rich is Mixmag's Digital Intern and you can find him fallin' free on Twitter.