Released May 17, 1979 Label Juana Records | Genre Disco | |
B-side "If I Could Feel That Old Feeling Again"
"Make Believe Lovers" (alternate B-side) Format 7-inch single
12-inch single Length 4:28 (album)
3:30 (7" single) | ||
"Ring My Bell" is a 1979 disco song written by Frederick Knight. The song was originally written for then eleven-year-old Stacy Lattisaw, as a teenybopper song about kids talking on the telephone. When Lattisaw signed with a different label, Anita Ward was asked to sing it instead, and it became her only major hit.
Ward's single hit number one on the disco charts. "Ring My Bell" went to number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Soul Singles chart. It also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Composition
The song is noted for its innovative use of the Synare electronic drum, playing a decaying high-pitched tom tone on every fourth beat. 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 the The Slanguage of Sex (1984), "'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." Billboard magazine included the song on its list of the 50 sexiest songs of all time. Knight, however, said that he deliberately avoided any overly suggestive lyrics, wanting to project a clean-cut image for Ward.