Songfacts®:

• Paul Jabara wrote this for the 1978 movie Thank God It's Friday. The movie takes place at a dance club, and Jabara played the role of Carl, a clueless club patron. The film didn't do nearly as well as Saturday Night Fever, which was released a year earlier and was also centered around a disco. "Last Dance," however, was a huge hit and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
• Jabara also wrote "It's Raining Men" for The Weathergirls, as well as Barbra Streisand's theme to her 1979 movie The Main Event. Jabara died of AIDS-related causes in 1992 at age 44.
• Summer performed this in the movie, which also featured a performance by the Commodores singing "Too Hot Ta Trot." It was Summer's first role in a major motion picture; she played an aspiring young singer named Nicole. In the film, she tries to convince the DJ at a hot nightclub to let her sing. At the end of the night, she gets her chance and performs "Last Dance," knowing it might be her last chance.
• The lyrics could be viewed as a woman looking for the love of her life, but in more literal terms, it's the last song before closing time at the disco, and she is looking for someone to go home with for the evening.
• European producer Giorgio Moroder worked on this track. He also produced Summer's hits Bad Girls and Love To Love You Baby.
• Summer appeared on a 1994 episode of the TV show Family Matters where she played Steve Urkel's aunt Oona from Altoona, and sang this song in a karaoke contest. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
• This was included on a 2010 disco CD included in kids' meals by Wendy's. However, the fast food chain was forced to pull their freebie after customers complained about this song's racy lyrics. Even though the CD had been marked as safe for 3 years old and up, the lyrics "so horny" could be heard.