About Dave Cuddy Expertise well versed in manilow`s music catalog, both domestic and international. includes all audio media and vhs/dvd. currently own over 400 different manilow CDs and countless LPs, 45s, and tapes.
Question I am doing a paper on the Barry Manilow song "Mandy" and the origin of the song. Who is the song written about? I have heard it was about a dog. Do you know any information about this topic?
Answer hi! here's some quotes from various people to help you. :)
barry: "one afternoon i received a phone call from clive davis [president of bell records] telling me about a song that could be a hit for me. the record he sent over was called 'brandy'. it was a catchy up-tempo song."
barry didn't like the idea of recording someone else's song since he thought of himself as a "songwriter". he joked and said that he'd call it 'mindy' and it would be OK.
scott english ['brandy' songwriter]: "it's funny how i knew 'brandy' would be a world beater from the moment richard kerr [the other songwriter] and i wrote it at a neighbor's house on an out of tune piano in london on a rainy tuesday in 1971.
scott recorded the song himself and it was a major hit in the UK, peaking at # 10 on the London charts.
when barry was given the song by clive, he learned it slowly on the piano. it seemed easier for barry to play it slow. barry learned it (up-tempo, the way the song was written) and recorded a demo for clive.
clive davis, the bell records exec, as well as ron dante, barry's producer, HATED IT! they all felt it just sounded "wrong".
barry then told them that when he was learning the song, he also learned how to play the song as a ballad. barry played "brandy" as a ballad - and THEY ALL loved it. clive said "yes, that's it"!
the previous year, "looking glass" charted with a major U.S. hit called "brandy, you're a fine girl". to eliminate confusion, barry and clive decided to change the name of the song to "mandy", since there was never a hit with that title.
richard kerr: "i arrived in america for the first time in 1974 and heard "mandy" being played through the walls of my publisher's office in los angeles. it stopped me in my tracks because it sounded so beautiful to me and because i didn't know who barry manilow was".
scott english also praised manilow for his incredible interpretation of "mandy".
scott english: "people often ask me if "brandy" was written about a dog. it was NOT, but i know how that story began. during the year i had my 8 minutes of fame with my own rendition of "brandy" (in the UK), i was awakened at 7 AM by a reporter. he wanted to know WHO brandy was. i would have said anything to get rid of him, so i spat out the first thing that came to mind. it was about a dog like Lassie and i had her sent away. NOW YOU GO AWAY!, i said, and then hung up the phone on him! i guess i'll have to live with that story".
manilow credits his career to "mandy".
barry: "never in my wildest dreams could i have ever imagined what happened. it still stuns me to think about it".
chart data: "mandy" was manilow's first single. it debuted on Billboard's HOT 100 chart November 16, 1974. Nine weeks later, it became the most popular song in America, scoring Manilow his first of eventually 3 # 1 hits ("i write the songs" and "looks like we made it" topped the chart, too!)
through 1988, manilow managed to log an impressive 28 songs on Billboard's HOT 100 Singles chart. 25 of them cracked the TOP 40, and 11 sailed on to become TOP 10 hits.
Billboard's TOP POP SINGLES reference guide (2000) ranks manilow at # 10 on the list of most popular male recording acts of the 1970s. further, the same publication ranks him as the 67th most popular recording act of all time (1955-2000).
