"Dinner with Gershwin" is a song written by

Brenda Russell Brenda Russell (née Gordon; born April 8, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and keyboardist. Russell has a diverse musical range which encompasses Rhythm and blues, R&B, pop music, pop, soul music, soul, dance music, dance, and ...

and recorded by American singer-songwriter

Donna Summer Donna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music ...

. The song was produced by Russell and

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (June 18, 1942 – December 24, 2024) was an American record producer. He began his musical career as a performer while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late ...

. It was released on August 7, 1987 as the lead single from Summer's 13th studio album ''All Systems Go'' (1987) by

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

(US) and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

(UK). Despite its parent album receiving mixed-to-negative reception, "Dinner with Gershwin" was reviewed as a standout from ''All Systems Go''. The song gave Summer her final top ten hit on the

Hot R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

chart, peaking at number ten and was her first top ten on the chart since 1983's "

Unconditional Love Unconditional love is known as love without judgment. There are many ways of describing unconditional love, but most will agree that it is that type of love which has no bounds and is unchanging. In Christianity, unconditional love is thought ...

". Despite that, the song became her first lead single since 1978 to miss the top forty on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number 48. The song was better received in the UK, thanks to Summer's first appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' on 19 November 1987, leading to a peak of number 13 there. The song was edited from the original album version for its release as a single, and the 12" edition also contained an exclusive non-album track called "Tearin' Down the Walls." Brenda Russell later recorded her own version of the song for her 1990 album ''

Kiss Me with the Wind ''Kiss Me with the Wind'' is the fifth studio album by the American singer/songwriter Brenda Russell, released in August 1990 on A&M Records. Album history After the success of her fourth album, ''Get Here'' (1988), Russell collaborated again wi ...

''.

Background

Writer

had originally written the song for herself, but once

David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American film producer, record executive, and media proprietor. In music, he co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts in 1971 before founding Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1 ...

, the founder of Geffen Records, heard the song, he made an offer for her to give the song to Summer.

Content

In the song, Summer imagines meeting and chatting with famous figures such as title-sake

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

and

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel music, gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was ...

. She wonders what it'd be like to hang out with them and imagines herself in their specific time periods. To promote the song, Geffen Records distributed bottles of champagne along with the promotional single to radio, retail, and the media.

Critical reception

Nelson George of ''Billboard'' called it a "charmingly funky record with a clever lyric." Marcello Carlin, in his book ''The Blue in the Air'', called the single "burningly strange." An uncredited review in ''Cashbox'' praised the track saying, "This tune works well, its offbeat lyrics and catchy melody should capture listeners after a few plays."

Track listing

;7" - Geffen Records 7-28418 / Warner Bros. - 258 237-7 # "Dinner with Gershwin" – 4:12 # "Dinner with Gershwin (Instrumental)" – 4:52 ;12" - Warner Bros. U 8237 T # "Dinner with Gershwin (Extended Version)" – 7:43 # "Dinner with Gershwin (LP Version)" – 4:35 # "Tearing Down the Walls" – 3:59 * Also released as a picture disc (U 8237 TP)

Official Versions

* Album Version (4:38) * 7" Version (4:12) * Extended Version (7:43) * Instrumental (4:52) * Special Edited Dance Mix (4:36)

Personnel

* Donna Summer – lead vocals *

Steve Lindsey Steve Lindsey (born Steve Clark Lindsey; May 6, 1956) is an American record producer, songwriter music publisher and music industry executive. Early life Steve Lindsey, born in New York City, to Mort Lindsey and his wife Judy. He had a conn ...

– acoustic piano, synthesizers, organ, drum programming *

– additional synthesizers, backing vocals * Howie Rice –

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fus ...

– clavinet concept *

Larry Klein Larry Klein is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Way ...

– additional synthesizer programming, fretless bass * Donald Griffin – guitar * Collyer Spreen – percussion * Terral (Terry) Santiel – additional percussion * Gary Herbig – clarinet * Maxi Anderson – backing vocals * Bunny Hull – backing vocals * Joe Turano – backing vocals Production Credits * Richard Perry – producer * Brenda Russell – associate producer * Glen Holguin – engineer, mixing * Jim Tract – mixing * Steve Peck – additional engineer * Ken Felton – second engineer * Scott Maddox – second engineer * Craig Miller – second engineer

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinner With Gershwin 1987 singles Donna Summer songs Brenda Russell songs Dance-pop songs Songs written by Brenda Russell 1987 songs Geffen Records singles Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Richard Perry