I Will Survive

Releases

Originally released as the B-side to a cover version of the Righteous Brothers song "Substitute", "I Will Survive" became a worldwide hit for Gaynor when disc jockeys played that side of the record instead. "Substitute" appeared on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart for four weeks in October–November 1978, peaking at No. 107. "I Will Survive" then entered the Billboard Hot 100 in December and reached No. 1 on the chart in March 1979.

As a disco number, the song was unique for its time by virtue of Gaynor's having no background singers. And, unlike her first disco hits, the track was not pitched up to make it faster and to render Gaynor's recorded voice in a higher register than that in which she actually sang. Most disco hits at the time were heavily produced, with multiple voices, overdubs, and adjustments to pitch and speed. "I Will Survive" had a much more spare and "clean" sound.

The song received the Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording in 1980, the only year the award was given. It is ranked #492 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and ranked at #97 on Billboard magazine's "All-Time Hot 100". In 2000, the song was ranked #1 in VH1's list of the 100 greatest dance songs.

A promotional video was filmed in 1979 at the New York discothèque called Xenon. Sheila Reid-Pender of Harlem, NY is the featured skater in the video from the skating group, The Village Wizards. Although three videos were filmed that day, the "I Will Survive" video was the only one to survive. Ms. Gaynor was not present during the taping of the rollerskating segment of the video. Ms. Gaynor and Ms. Pender met for the first time on July 7, 2014 in New York at the 92nd St. Y after Ms. Gaynor's lecture and promotional signing of her book 'We Will Survive'. In this book, Gaynor said, "I wanted everybody—including myself—to believe that we could survive".

Following the success of fellow 1970s disco stars Sister Sledge with remixed singles in the UK in 1993, "I Will Survive" was also remixed and released that summer. This remix reached number five on the UK Singles Chart.

In November 2013, Gaynor released a gospel album entitled We Will Survive, which includes a new, updated remix of "I Will Survive" by DJ Shpank in both extended and radio edit formats.

It was during the FIFA World Cup 1998 the un-official anthem of the French team, who went on to win the competition.

Impact and legacy

VH1 placed "I Will Survive" at #1 in their list of 100 Greatest Dance Songs in 2000.[1]

In 2012 "I Will Survive" was ranked at #2 in Rolling Stones poll of The Best Disco Songs of All Time.

The Daily Telegraph ranked "I Will Survive" #48 in their The 100 Greatest Songs of All Time list in November 2016.

Personnel

Official versions

Recorded by Gloria Gaynor

Cover versions

Billie Jo Spears' version from her 1979 album, I Will Survive, peaked at #21 in the U.S. Country Chart, #9 in the Canadian Country Chart, and #47 in the UK Singles Chart. Hermes House Band covered the song in 1994. Diana Ross' version from her 1995 album, Take Me Higher, peaked at #14 on the UK and European charts. In the United States, it peaked at #37 on the Billboard Dance Music Charts. Ross also performed it during her celebrated Super Bowl XXX halftime show in 1996. However, the song has also been covered by many other musicians. Conan O'Brien has covered this song at some of his live shows, with lyrics altered to take shots at NBC. Filipino rock group Parokya Ni Edgar released a parody entitled "Picha Pie" in their 1999 album Gulong Itlog Gulong. British recording artist Robbie Williams incorporated the string-laden instrumental bridge in a section of his 2000 song "Supreme," which became a major hit in several European markets. Cuban Salsa performer Celia Cruz covered the song in Spanish under the title "Yo Viviré" in her 2000 album "Siempre Viviré." British group Erasure also incorporated the string bridge in a section of their 1991 song "Love to Hate You". The Puppini Sisters covered the song in their 2007 debut album Betcha Bottom Dollar. A cover of the song by Filipina singer Jona was used as the opening theme for ABS-CBN's drama series We Will Survive, along with instrumental versions of the cover serving as incidental music. Demi Lovato covered the song for the soundtrack of The Angry Birds Movie in 2016.

Cake version

Cake covered the song rock-style in 1996, on their album Fashion Nugget. In addition to many subtle changes, lead singer John McCrea altered the lyrics (leading Gaynor to describe the cover as her least favorite version of the song, due to the presence of "profanity"). The music video of Cake's version features McCrea as a city parking enforcement officer driving around in a Cushman three-wheeled scooter as he leaves tickets on various cars.

Wu-Tang Clan members Method Man and U-God have both interpolated the song on separate solo albums. Method Man on "Release Yo' Delf" off of "Tical" and U-God on "Enter U-God" off of "Golden Arms Redemption"

Track listing

1. "I Will Survive" (Radio Edit) – 4:14
2. "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle" – 4:12

1. "I Will Survive" (Radio Edit) – 3:52
2. "I Will Survive" (Long Radio Edit) – 5:11

Hermes House Band version

Hermes House Band from The Netherlands, covered the song la la la-style in 1994, and scored several number 1 hits in The Netherlands, Belgium and France with this version. They sold more than 2.5 million copies of I Will Survive-la-la-la worldwide.

Chantay Savage version

R&B singer Chantay Savage covered the song in 1996 as a ballad. Her version peaked at #24 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

Track listing

Side A

1. "I Will Survive" (Puff Daddy "Bad Boy Mix")
2. "I Will Survive" (Silk's Old Skool Extended Mix with Clean Rap)
3. "I Will Survive" (Original LP version – edit)

Side B

1. "I Will Survive" (Silk's Classic House Mix)
2. "I Will Survive" (Rhythm Radio version)

Leah McFall version

The Voice UK contestant, Leah McFall, performed the song on the first live show in the style of Chantay Savage. Following the programme, the studio recording of the performance was released and reached number three on UK iTunes. The song debuted at number sixteen on the UK Singles Chart on 9 June 2013, and in the following week it reached number eight.

Popular culture

In 1998 de:Victor Navone used the opening sequence of this song as the soundtrack of an animated video "Alien Song" which was virally distributed, primarily by e-mail. Navone went on to work for Pixar.

The same year, the song became an anthem and gained more popularity in France when the France national football team won the 1998 World Cup.

In 1999, Gaynor performs the song at the school Prom on That 70's Show episode 19 "Prom Night" to cheer up a disheartened, lovelorn, Fez, who disco dances and bumps with her as the song is performed.

In the second episode of Season 2 of the television drama Medium which aired on September 26, 2005, the song plays repeatedly in Alison's head, leading her to the MP3 player of a missing student.

The song was ranked number 23 out of the top 76 songs of the 1970s by internet radio station WDDF Radio in their 2016 countdown.

In the French film One Man and His Cow (La Vache, 2016) the protagonist sings a Raï-style version of the song at a village festival.

In the 2016 movie The Angry Birds Movie, a cover version was sung by Demi Lovato.

It appears in the video game Just Dance 2014, By Ubisoft

It is featured during the ending credits of the 2015 movie The Martian in which the protagonist left behind on Mars must find a way to survive.

It was used in the lip sync between Dax ExclamationPoint and Laila McQueen in episode 2, Season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race.

It appears in a 2017 TV commercial for Capital One which features Gaynor and Charles Barkley.

LGBT community

"I Will Survive" had a particularly large influence within the LGBT community at the time of its release. This was mostly attributed to the lack of acceptance of LGBT individuals at the time. Because of this, the song is often referred to as the Queer Anthem. The LGBT community is said to have identified with "I Will Survive" because the "textual message of defiant and enduring presence was already well tailored to queer identification needs, but this message and the song's titular statement took on even deeper meaning with the dawn of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s".