Favorite Song No. 362: Dominatrix – The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight

Dominatrix - The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight

Song: The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight
Artist: Dominatrix
Year: 1984
Album: n/a
Genre: Disco
Style: Electropop
Pictured: 12″ Single
Click Here to Play the Song

It goes without saying that the ’80s were a very, very different time from the era in which we now live. Society was less repressed, people were less prone to being offended, and a song about a dominatrix became a massive club hit. I used to hear this at the Palladium in San Francisco, one of few clubs that let under-21s in to dance, and was a bit lax about carding them if they wanted to drink, and it fit perfectly with the sex-charged atmosphere of the club, not to mention the entire city of San Francisco. I wonder what a 2020 20-something would make of the ’80s if they were sent back in time to experience it firsthand. I think they might die of shock.

Before I began writing about this song, all I knew is that it was a catchy tune with a danceable beat and a recognizable hook. After a bit of research I now know that it was an utterly omnipresent fixture of the dance clubs of 1984 New York. It was in constant rotation at Danceteria, Limelight, Paradise Garage, and all the other dens of dance and debauchery that seem to have no modern-day equivalent. I read also about its release party, at Kamikaze, back when Bruce Willis was still bartending there.

The song is somewhat puzzling. Why is the dominatrix sleeping? Who’s to say? Does it even matter? To me it doesn’t. She can sleep if she wants to, I just want to dance whenever I hear this song. I learned the first time I played this song in a set that it was mixed by someone who was not considering the dance floor when he did his job. Listen to the song, linked above, and notice that about 3:08 into the song the downbeat becomes an upbeat! Way to throw off everyone on the dance floor and ruin every mix. Pro-tip: give the upbeat a quick scratch on the 1, and drop it in on the 2, where it belongs.

2 thoughts on “Favorite Song No. 362: Dominatrix – The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight”

  1. Frank Longfellow

    This is the jam. I was a bit too young to be freakin in the mentioned booty clubs of yore and I’m admittedly late to the game on this one, having first heard this on one infamous golden (lost) mixtape. I kind of re-discovered it after reading the beastie boys autobiography and now it’s a mainstay on any of my dance mixes. In fact, I just broke it down on the dance floor with my 85 year old grandmother this past Christmas rocking to this song (as well as some Soul 2 Soul, Janet Jackson, and Neneh Cherry, all in the same vein as this classic). Play at full volume. 10 out of 10 would recommend.

    1. I originally had a paragraph in here about the Lost Mixtape, but edited it out for clarity’s sake. It was hard to bring up the Jejune Institute without going into detail. Have you seen that Jason Segel has a TV show coming out based on the Jejune Institute and Elsewhere?

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