- The song that started life with lyrics written on a brown paper bag has become one of the most empowering pop songs ever recorded. Gloria Gaynor's 1979 transatlantic number one remains one of the defining hits of the disco era. With its story of a woman changing from "at first I was afraid, I was petrified" to telling her man to "go on now, go, walk out the door", it has become not just a karaoke classic, but a lifeline for people with every sort of problem - dumped women, gay men, the woman who sang it for hours on a capsized boat in the middle of the ocean. Paul Gambaccini and Gloria Gaynor analyse the song's strengths, while the men and women who have found meaning and significance in it tell their stories.