The decade we call “the eighties” did not begin on the first of January 1980. Rather, it officially started January 29, 1980, the date the single Call Me by Blondie was released.

“Call Me” was written by vocalist Debbie Harry and composer Giorgio Moroder for the movie American Gigolo; Moroder composed the score for the film, and to his melody, Ms. Harry added the indelible phrasing above.

Mr. Morodor, of course, composed and/or produced — and played keyboards for — some of the most striking songs of the 1970s and 1980s as part of his work for Donna Summer, including “The Wanderer,” “On the Radio,” “Dim All the Lights,” and, of course, “I Feel Love.

” He later produced the anthem “Flash Dance” and worked with Daft Punk, Berlin, Kylie Minogue, Sia, and Britney Spears, winning three Oscars and four Grammys. Call Me pushed his work into the 1980s with its taught production and blend of synthesizer and guitar, foreshadowing the rising tide of Synth-pop which crested in the 1980s.

I heard the lyric about “designer sheets” for the first, but not the last, time during swim practice during my freshman year as I was making a flip turn. .