Actually, scratch that.
No one embodies late 70s/early 80s New York City better than Debbie Harry. Part East Village punk. Part silver screen starlet. Part Studio 54 disco chick. Part Great White Way darling. Part globe trekking Bohemian.
A tough angel. A street smart scholar. A bombshell with brains...
And the song that wraps all of that up in one, tidy package is Blondie's "Call Me (Theme from American Gigolo)" (1980)--a song that Harry co-wrote with Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, who's probably best known for co-writing Donna Summer's disco moan-fest, "Love to Love You, Baby."
Story is, Moroder was tapped to score the film American Gigolo, and he'd asked Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks to collaborate on a theme song. However, because of contractual conflicts, Nicks was unable to participate, so Moroder contacted Harry instead.
(I'd say that worked out pretty well.)
The song walks a fine line between punk crunch and disco gloss. There are Chris Stein's revved up, grungy guitars pitted against Moroder's sizzling synths, and Clem Burke's driving, bottom-heavy beat, which seems as readymade for slam dancing as it is for doing "The Bump."
And then there's Harry's vocal: channeling Peggy Lee at her smokiest one moment, and then yelling like Iggy Pop at a methadone clinic the next.
It's a perfect song in every conceivable way.
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