Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.When he partnered with another Motown producer called Freddie Perren, they wrote a number called “I Will Survive” for which Fekaris provided most of the lyrics. In 1978, the pair were teamed up with New Jersey singer Gloria Gaynor by her record company to record a song called “Substitute”, which had been a hit in Europe for an all-female band called Clout. The music was recorded in just 35 minutes at the end of a session devoted mostly to “Substitute”. When Gaynor came in to record her vocal she was still in a back brace as a result of an operation on her spine some weeks earlier. Her mother had recently died. She wrote in her memoir that, in every relationship, she “ended up being rejected, disrespected, and neglected”. And she was also a survivor of rape. “I Will Survive” wasn’t just another song to her — it was a mission statement. When the single was released, it quickly became evident that, in clubs such as Studio 54 in New York and on radio stations, “I Will Survive” was much more popular than “Substitute.” It was re-released as an A-side in 1979 and topped the charts in the UK, the US and several other countries. It has inspired more than 200 covers.In January 2017, ahead of Donald Trump’s first presidential inauguration, a group of film stars including Emma Stone and Anya Taylor-Joy were gathered by fashion magazine W to give a rendition meant to indicate how they felt about the upcoming four years. Perhaps they will revisit it at the forthcoming inauguration. Embraced by gay men and female victims of domestic violence, it has become an anthem for the broken-hearted, the disenfranchised and the oppressed. The Gloria Gaynor version will still fill a dancefloor even before the opening piano arpeggio has ended. As she says: “It’s a timeless lyric anyone can relate to about the tenacity of the human spirit.”Let us know your memories of ‘I Will Survive’ in the comments section belowThe paperback edition of ‘The Life of a Song: The stories behind 100 of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by ChambersMusic credits: Motown; Universal; Parlophone; RCA; Sony; BMG
