Category: Music

More than just a simple Cinderella story, my friend Kent and I always believed there was a deeper, more esoteric theme running through Donna's Once Upon a Time—namely, that this was a story of past-life loves reuniting after being separated at death.

This song in particular reinforced that belief, because Cinderella had never known her prince before actually meeting him at the ball. "Having learned to live with you, it's hard to live without you. You always said if I were down, to cheer me you would be around."

Then again, it could just be Cinderella's longing for her dead father…

While the Bad Girls album was Donna's biggest commercial success, in my opinion Once Upon a Time (from which these cuts were culled) was by far her best and never really received the amount of recognition it deserved. A double album, nearly every song on sides 1, 2 & 4 were massive club hits (side 3 contained slow ballads) when it first came out.

This record will forever hold a very special place in my heart with the memories contained within its sleeves, and it was one of three records I kept when I stupidly decided to ditch all my vinyl in the late 80s. In fact, when I was listening to this cut while putting this post together I realized that tears were spontaneously steaming down my cheeks. That's how special it is…

Patrick Cowley, another one snatched from us far too soon…

This would always get Dennis and I on the dance floor. We'd do a little country swing thing to it during that one particularly twangy break.

There was Grace. Miss Grace Jones.

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Hott City's Ain't Love Grand was the first LP that my friend Steve ever gave me, and while the rest of my vinyl was sold or went to friends and family during "the '87 purge," this was one of less than a handful^* of records to remain in my possession all these years—possibly because of the sentimental value attached to it and the fact it was pressed on white vinyl.

^*I believe the other two were Donna Summer's Once Upon a Time and the original Star Wars soundtrack.