I admit, I never was a big fan of Barry Manilow. Oh, I recognize his talent; he has a great voice for his style of music. But back in the day, I was more into Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent, and Alice Cooper than the mildly sappy love songs that Barry Manilow did – and does.
But last week, we learned that Manilow, now 82 (!), has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will be undergoing surgery. We all, I feel sure, wish him all the best and hope for a complete recovery.
The interesting thing about Mr. Manilow is not just that he started in music in 1964, when he wrote songs for an off-Broadway musical, but that his first real commercial successes were actually commercials. As in, product jingles. If you’re around my age, you’ll remember some of them:
“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”
“I am stuck on Band-Aid, ‘cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me.”
“All across the nation, it’s a Pepsi generation.”
“You deserve a break today (McDonald's).”
He not only wrote a lot of those jingles but also performed them.
Jingles wouldn’t be his career, fortunately. Starting in the ‘70s, his pop music career took off. Here are six that prodded my own internal Wayback Machine.
Mandy (1974): This is something of a cover – sort of. The song was originally written by Scott English, who recorded it as Brandy. But another song, by the American band Looking Glass, was already called Brandy (and she was a fine girl) so in America, the tune was changed to Mandy. This song was Barry Manilow’s first hit single, as well as his first song released by Arista Records.
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I Write The Songs (1975): Written by the Beach Boy’s Bruce Johnson, this song was rumored to be about that band’s member Brian Wilson, but Johnson denied that, stating later:
This was written by Bruce Johnston, who is a member of The Beach Boys. The song is sometimes erroneously rumored to be about Brian Wilson. Johnston cleared this up when he told us: "The Captain & Tennille were the first artists to record my song 'I Write The Songs.' I never wrote 'I Write The Songs' about Brian Wilson. I wrote it about 'where music comes from' (for me, music comes only from God). My song has nothing to do with Brian!
Great song. Not about Brian Wilson. Got it. Now, if we could just straighten out the story behind that song Elton John wrote about Tony Danza…
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Looks Like We Made It (1977): Now here we have, not a love song, but a farewell-to-love song. This one was composed by pianist Richard Kerr, with lyrics written by Will Jennings. Jennings later said about the song:
Even Now (1978): In the late ‘70s, American music was starting to lean a little into the weepy, sad laments that were too common from about 1977 to the mid-80s. But this one, actually composed by Barry himself, is a little different – I’ll let lyricist Marty Panzer, who wrote this tune, explain why:"You walk into a party. Someone you used to love and someone who used to love you is there. You are each with someone else. 'Looks like we made it, left each other on the way to another love... looks like we made it, or I thought so until the day, until you were there, everywhere, and all I could taste was love the way we made it'... real life. And if you feel that way, you didn't make it."
"Most songs said, 'I'm lonely - and I miss you.' 'I'm unhappy - and I miss you.' 'My life is not good - and so, I miss you.'
I wanted to say, 'I miss you - because you're wonderful. Whether I'm happy, or sad, has nothing to do with it. I miss you because you are an extraordinary person, whose value exists independent of my state of mind, or the condition of my life.'
I wanted to say, 'I miss you, because you're worth missing. Even now.'"
That’s not the worst message a song could send. I can’t sympathize with the message, though, because I can’t miss the love of my life – she’s already right by my side.
I Made It Through The Rain (1980): This song presents life as weather. It represents good times as clear, sunny days, and bad times as a storm. And it’s a pretty good metaphor, carrying a little hope – that you can come through a storm, and be stronger for it.The Old Songs (1981): This is, again, a cover, originally written in 1977 by David Pomeranz and Buddy Kaye, and Buddy later said that Barry had heard the song on his album and wanted to record it, too. He did so on his album If I Should Love Again, and it was his 11th #1 hit on the Adult Contemporary charts.Again, we wish Barry Manilow a speedy and uneventful recovery. As I put this list together, I think I developed a new appreciation for the man and his unique style. He is an American icon, and we should recognize him as such.Do you have any Barry Manilow hits you remember most? The comments, as always, are all yours.
