Another golden hit from the disco music that boomed in the 80s (yea man, I feel so retro!). The original TV performance video was so "Honestly, are you seriously going to let people see you dress and dance that way?" that I had to look for a more normal video to show without flushing... and I found this one. Well, the video is kind of fine, but this woman looks a bit like she's moving in front of the camera for the first time. A bit stiff, don't you think? So I'll ask the webmaster to graciously add a link to the original song too, even cheesy as it may look, but the music is more authentic and the girls have a little bit more of rhythm than this one.

Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life, yeah
'Cause I was sitting there bored to death
And in just one breath, he said
"You gotta get up, you gotta get on, you gotta get down, girl"
You know you drive me crazy, baby
You've got me turning to another man
Called you on the phone, no one's home
Baby, why you leave me alone?
And if it wasn't for the music, I don't know what I'd do, yeah

Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life from a broken heart
Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life with a song

You know I hopped into my car, didn't get very far, no
Before I had you on my mind, why be so unkind?
You've got your women all around, all around this town
But I was trapped in love with you and I didn't know what to do
But when I turned on my radio, I found out all I needed to know
Check it out

Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life from a broken heart
Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life with a song
Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life from a broken heart
Last night a DJ saved my life
Last night a DJ saved my life with a song

Hey, listen up to your local deejay
You better hear what he's got to say

There's not a problem that I can't fix
'Cause I can do it in the mix
And if your man gives you trouble, just move out on a double
And you don't let it trouble your brain
'Cause away goes trouble down the drain
I said away goes trouble down the drain

'Cause I was sitting' there bored to death
And in just one breath, he said
"You gotta get up, you gotta get on, you gotta get down, girl"

There's not a problem that I can't fix
'Cause I can do it in the mix
And if your man gives you trouble, just move out on a double
And you don't let it trouble your brain
'Cause away goes trouble down the drain
I said away goes trouble down the drain

Stop the bass

DJ= (also deejay) Disc jockey.
A disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, disk referred to phonograph records, while disc referred to the Compact Disc, so today we spell it with "disc", but in the 80's, when CDs didn't exist yet, it was spelled with "disk". Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the source, so most DJs now use MP3, they use no disk or disc at all, but are still called DJ (how 'bout that?). A DJ maybe the person who plays the music on the radio (as in this song) or the person who plays the music at a disco. Today, some disco DJs got famous recording their own versions of famous songs, altering the original song or mixing two or more songs into one single piece.

CAUSE= (colloquial) because.

BORED TO DEATH= Very very bored.

IN JUST ONE BREATH= If you say something in just one breath, you say it very quickly and/or in one go, without pausing.

YOU GOTTA= (colloquial) you have got to, you must.

GET UP= Stand up, leave your seat.

GET ON= (colloquial) To continue. In this case he means "continue with your life, move on".

GET DOWN= (colloquial) to dance; to party.

YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY= I like you very very much or you give me lots and lots of troubles (here and in the following lines she refers to her boyfriend, not the DJ). Crazy, eh? The same expression may refer to two things completely different, so what meaning do you think she's using here? You have 5 seconds to answer: 5...4...3...2.. Yea, that was quick! What? Oh, sorry, you're wrong, it's meaning number 2, "you're giving me many problems", that's why she wants to die but, ta-da! The DJ appeared and saved her life... with a song! Yea, right.

YOU'VE GOT ME TURNING TO ANOTHER MAN= You make me look for the company of another man (because you don't pay any attention to me). That other man is the DJ, and his company is only through the radio waves. Do you think that may be technically considered cheating?

A BROKEN HEART= If you have a broken heart your lover hurt your feelings (probably because they don't love you)

HOPPED= Jumped. If you hop into a car, you get on the car quickly and energetically.

CHECK IT OUT= (colloquial) Listen to this, have a look at this, pay attention to this, see if you like it. But in many songs this phrase means nothing, it's just a cool phrase that they use sometimes to make it sound cool :)

LISTEN UP= Listen carefully.

DEEJAY= DJ (see above)

YOU BETTER= (colloquial) You had better (+ infinitive without to)= You should.
This phrase is used to give advice and it's followed by infinitive without to. I remember my teacher saying often "if a native speaker says 'you better' without 'had' then that's colloquial, if you say 'you better' without 'had' then it's wrong". Well, he was a great teacher but in my opinion totally wrong here, since most people never use 'had' here when speaking. Or maybe he was mostly thinking of writing.

FIX= To fix a problem is to solve a problem. To fix a thing is to repair it.

MIX= A musical composition which is the result of mixing two or more different songs into one.

YOUR MAN= Your boyfriend or husband.

MOVE OUT= Leave home, go to live somewhere else.
In this song it simply means "leave your boyfriend, break up with him", because they're not leaving together (otherwise she wouldn't phone him every night).

ON A DOUBLE= (slang) at once, right now. This phrase is probably incorrect because the right expression is ON THE DOUBLE. Originally this expression means "at a double speed, twice as fast".

DON'T LET IT TROUBLE YOUR BRAIN= Don't let it worry you.

CAUSE AWAY GOES TROUBLE= Because your problems disappear.

DOWN THE DRAIN= If something goes down the drain, it disappears for good or for bad. If your troubles go down the drain they disappear and that's great. If your work goes down the drain, everything you did was for nothing, you lost it all. The DRAIN is a hole in the street (covered by a grill) to collect water from the rain, so if something goes down the drain, you lose it forever. Well, yea, I know, sometimes in the movies you can see people trying to recover money, the car keys or a diamond ring that fell down the drain, and sometimes they get it back! But forget about it mate, it's only a film. If your diamond ring falls down the drain, you'll never see it back!

BASS= An instrument that produces tones in a low register, usually referring to a double-bass, which is similar to a guitar. This word is so stupid that you spell it "bass" but you don't pronounce it "bass", you pronounce it "base".

This song is about a woman who is having a lot of problems with her boyfriend. She can't cope with it anymore, he's driving her crazy, maybe he doesn't love her anymore, he's not paying enough attention to her and she feels so so miserable she wants to die. But... she turns on the radio and a DJ is playing her favourite music so... goodbye problems, life's wonderful, everything's perfect. She thought life had no meaning to her anymore, maybe she was so desperate that she was thinking of committing suicide, but thanks to that wonderful DJ she's ok now. The DJ saved her life (last night) and now she feels happy again.

No, it's not that she had an affair with the DJ, it's not that she's in love with him, it's simply that the DJ played the right music. Now I'm not so interested in this song, I'm much more interested in finding out what was the music that the DJ played. I want to know it. I need to know it. Imagine your life goes down the drain, you are in deep trouble and go, play that music and everything is hunky-dory again. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT MUSIC IS THAT!!!