"Ring My Bell" is a

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

song written by Frederick Knight. The song was originally written for eleven-year-old

Stacy Lattisaw Stacy Lattisaw Jackson (née Lattisaw; born November 25, 1966) is an American R&B singer from Washington, D.C., United States. Career When she was 11 years old, singer/songwriter Frederick Knight attempted to sign Lattisaw to his production ...

as a teenybopper song about children talking on the telephone. When Lattisaw signed with a different label, American singer and musician Anita Ward was asked to sing it instead, and it became her only major hit in 1979. "Ring My Bell" went to number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the Disco Top 80 chart and the Soul Singles chart. It also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. It also garnered Ward a nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 1980 Grammy Awards.

Composition

The song is noted for its innovative use of the

Synare The Synare was a series of electronic drums made by Star Instruments in the mid-1970s through the 1980s. The Synare was a drum synthesizer, meaning that it was essentially a synthesizer, but instead of being controlled by a keyboard, it was trigge ...

electronic drum Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the Drum synthesiser, synthesized or Sampler ...

, playing a decaying high-pitched tom tone on the first beat of every bar. It also uses chimes. The lyrics concern a woman encouraging her partner to relax with her after a hard day at work. The lyric "You can ring my bell" was seen as sexually suggestive according to 1984 book ''The Slanguage of Sex'', "'You can ring my bell any time you want to' would be regarded as a 'come-on' phrase in the US if used by a female," and "Songs like 'Ring My Bell' by Anita Ward caused scarcely a raised eyebrow in the '70s." Songwriter Frederick Knight, however, said that he deliberately avoided any overly suggestive lyrics, wanting to project a clean-cut image for Ward.

Legacy

In October 2000,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

ranked "Ring My Bell" No. 53 in their list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs". In 2010, ''

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'' magazine included it in their list of "The 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time". In 2020, ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' ranked "Ring My Bell" No. 80 in their "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time" list. The significance of the song to the history of

disco music Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightlife, particularly in African-American, Italian-American, Gay and Latino communities. Its sound features four-on-the-floor ...

is discussed in Episode 3 of the 2024

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series ''Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution''. Same year, ''

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'' ranked it No. 12 in their list of "The 30 Greatest Disco Songs of All Time". In March 2025, ''Billboard'' ranked it No. 33 in their list of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time", writing, "Anita Ward was working as a substitute teacher in Memphis when she recorded "Ring My Bell", a fizzy disco delight that became her only major hit. (But what a hit: the song spent two weeks at No. 1 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

in the spring of 1979.) The track was written by Frederick Knight, who had minor success in the early 1970s with the famed soul outfit

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

. Knight initially penned "Ring My Bell" for the young singer

, envisioning a song about teenagers chatting on the phone. This origin story is almost impossible to believe after listening to Ward's finished product with its bawdy single entendre: ''You can ring my bell, anytime, anywhere.'' The instrumentation is pleasingly plush, with a "whoop"-ing sound accenting the first beat, guitars pawing around the edges of the drums, and a chiming motif that pairs perfectly with Ward's flirty hook."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Collette version

"Ring My Bell" was covered by New Zealand-born Australian pop singer Collette and released in 1989 as her debut single. The song peaked at number five on the Australian

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

and was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

Track listing

* 7" (CBS 654631) :A. "Ring My Bell" – 3:22 :B. "Save Yourself" – 4:06 * 12" :A1. "Ring My Bell" (Ring-a-Ling Mix) – 6:12 :A2. "Ring My Bell" (Ding-Dong Mix) – 5:41 :B1. "Save Yourself" (Survival Mix) – 5:53 :B2. "Save Yourself" (Pow Wow Mix) – 6:39

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1979 debut singles 1979 songs 1989 debut singles Anita Ward songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Spain RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by Frederick Knight (singer) UK singles chart number-one singles TK Records singles CBS Records singles

Composition

Legacy

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Collette version

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification

See also

References

External links