In the summer of 1974, Chris Stein wrote a song with the catchy feel of “Rock the Boat”. Debbie Harry wrote some lyrics about falling in and out of love and threw in a 1960s R&B girl group-style “Ooo-ooo, ohhh-oh” fill when they started performing the song at CBGB. This became the disco song, which became Blondie’s first hit — but only after Mike Chapman produced it:
Mr. Stein: Originally, Debbie’s second line of the song was, “Soon turned out, he was a pain in the ass.” Mike thought that might not play well on the radio, so I threw out a phrase, “heart of glass,” which everyone liked. Debbie worked it in as “Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.” That’s the title we used on the song.
Mr. Chapman: I asked Debbie which singer she liked most in the music business. She said, “Donna Summer,” particularly on “I Feel Love.” I never expected that. I said to her and Chris, “Why don’t we give this song a Giorgio Moroder feel?” Giorgio had produced Donna’s great albums.