Anita Ward - Ring My Bell

"Ring My Bell" is a 1979 disco song written by Frederick Knight. The song was originally written for then eleven-year-old Stacy Lattisaw, as a teenybopper song about kids talking on the telephone. When Lattisaw signed with a different label, Anita Ward was asked to sing it instead, and it became her only major hit. Ward's single hit number 1 on the disco charts. "Ring My Bell" went to number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Soul Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. It also garnered Ward a nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 1980 Grammy Awards. The song is noted for its innovative use of the Synare electronic drum, playing a decaying high-pitched tom tone on the first beat of every bar. It also uses chimes. The lyrics concern a woman encouraging her partner to relax with her after a hard day at work. The lyric "You can ring my bell" was seen as sexually suggestive according to The Slanguage of Sex (1984), "'You can ring my bell any time you want to' would be regarded as a 'come-on' phrase in the US if used by a female," and "Songs like 'Ring My Bell' by Anita Ward caused scarcely a raised eyebrow in the '70s." Billboard magazine included the song on its list of the 50 sexiest songs of all time. Knight, however, said that he deliberately avoided any overly suggestive lyrics, wanting to project a clean-cut image for Ward.