“Carry On” by Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder

It can be reasonably put forth that the addressee is a romantic interest of the singer, considering that she refers to this individual using terms of affection like “my love” and “baby, baby, baby”. 

But it would perhaps be more reasonable to postulate that he isn’t. Or if so, then the vocalist must be an above-average person in terms of being supportive and open-minded. For what the lyrics center on is her encouraging said individual to like fearlessly pursue his or her destiny.

Indeed what the lyrics are mostly about, most simply put, is the vocalist admonishing the addressee to ‘follow their dream’. Now the implication is that advising this person so is not easy on the part of the singer for two primary reasons. 

First, as established earlier, he or she is a loved one. And secondly, she is familiar enough with this person to know that advising him or her to make sure a move means that s/he is more or less setting off for some unspecified destination, i.e. most likely permanently away from her.

In fact as things stand now this individual refusing to make the move, under the estimation of the vocalist, is stagnating his or her personal development. The addressee also comes off as someone who tried to make the big leap of faith in the past but failed. So this time around, the vocalist is instructing him to take the endeavor more seriously, i.e. “get it right this time”.

So if we were to put this song into a romantic context, it reads a lot like a woman in a relationship coming to the realization that her man just isn’t focused. Or put differently, he has yet to find his true footing in life. And his lack of maturity, so to speak, is detrimentally affecting their union. 

So even though the vocalist appears to be very much in love, she is mature enough herself to tell him that he needs to man-up and follow the yellow brick road, if you will. In other words, once he sets off this time, he shouldn’t “look back again”. And on top of having faith in the cause, he should also believe in his own inner strength.

But again, in reality there isn’t really any wording overtly pointing to this being a romance. For example, a woman can go about referring to a number of different loved ones – a female friend, a male friend, a child or perhaps even we, the audience members – as “baby” or “my love”. 

So stripping away all of the surface lyrics, what this ultimately boils down to is her realizing that the time has come for said individual to make a power move in life, even though doing so requires the two of them to be separated.

“Carry On” Facts

Artist(s): Donna Summer & Giorgio Moroder
Album/EP: “Forever Dancing” 

Was “Carry On” a single release?

Yes. It was the first single of the “Forever Dancing” album. January 1 of 1993 was the day “Carry On” was introduced to the public.

Writing and Production  

The song was written by Giorgio and Marietta Waters. Giorgio also produced it.

Genre(s)

• Pop
• Dance 

Awards/Honors:

In 1998 it won a Grammy Award for “Best Dance Recording”. It competed with the following songs in that category:

• Daft Punk’s “Da Funk”
• Gina G’s “Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit”
• Pet Shop Boys’ “To Step Aside”
• Quad City DJ’s “Space Jam”

Chart Performance

• U.S. (25)