Could It Be Magic
Barry Manilow's ballad has lived many lives
I borrow a book of Barry Manilow’s sheet music from the library specifically so I could learn to play the beautiful opening of this song, a bit of Chopin’s Op. 28: Prelude No. 20 in C minor. I discovered that my skills aren’t up to play 4-fingered chords yet, so this project will have to wait. The song is still sticking in my head, though.
Come, come, come into my arms
Let me know the wonder of all of you
Baby, I want you now, now, now, and hold on fast
Could this be the magic at last?
Manilow wrote the song after playing some Chopin and wanted the song to build like Hey Jude, a single crescendo that goes “until you think you can't take it anymore. It should be a musical orgasm.” He sent the tune to his collaborator Adrienne Anderson, who put words on it. The song was sent to Tony Orlando, who had signed Manilow a couple of years earlier, who loved the song and reworked some of the lyrics.
This original version (which I had never heard before) is unrecognizable before the chorus. Lyrics are different and it’s a poppy bubblegum sound arranged by Orlando that was common when it was released in 1971. Featherbed was a ghost group put together by Orlando that used session musicians and put Manilow on vocals for the first time. 1
The song didn’t really take but it was enough to give Manilow a shot to record his first album. Which brings us to the next version. Manilow didn’t like the uptempo version and re-recorded it for that album, turning to producer Ron Dante to implement his vision and reworking the lyrics with Anderson. She suggested “Sweet Melissa”, a nod to their friend and labelmate Melissa Manchester. The result was an epic 7 minute track that incorporated the Chopin at the beginning and at the end.
However, the album didn’t do that well and the song sunk. 6 months later Bell Records would be bought by Clive Davis and folded into Arista. Manilow was one of the few artists to survive the transition. His next album produces the hit Mandy and Davis decides to re-release the first album. Manilow and Dante do a bit of re-arranging and re-record the vocal. Davis loves it so much he releases a 4 minute version as a single by cutting the bridge in half, deleting the first half of the second verse, and reducing the number of repeats in the final chorus. That’s the version that hits #6 on the Billboard chart in 1975.
6 months later, Donna Summer releases a Giorgio Moroder disco version of the song, changing the lyrics of "sweet Melissa" to "sweet Peter" as an ode to her boyfriend at the time, Peter Mühldorfer. She takes Manilow’s idea of a musical orgasm to another level in the bridge. The song places #3 on the Billboard dance chart in 1976 as well as placing high on UK charts.
The UK take this song to the charts again in 1992 when Take That releases a version based on the Moroder arrangement, produced and remixed by the Rapino Brothers. It was the final single from their debut album Take That & Party and didn’t even appear on the cassette version of the album. It becomes their first huge hit, reaching #3 on the UK charts and netting them the Best British Single award at the 1993 Brit Awards.
The video directed by Saffie Ashtiany is really something else, mainly highlighting the abs of what had become the hottest boy band in the UK. It shows off the breakdance skills of Jason Orange and the presence of Robbie Williams, who went on to become a mega star after he left the band.
The re-emergence of the song prompted Manilow to work on yet another version of the song2, which he released on his 1993 greatest hits album, The Platinum Collection. Working with Trevor Horn, this version pairs the original brass and strings orchestration with new drums, bass, and synthesizers. It starts in the ballad style then transitions to up-tempo, closer to the Take That version, before returning to the Chopin at the end. I really like it.
There’s a lot of other cover versions of this song but I’ll leave you with this version from Lynda Carter’s TV special, Encore. It begins with a cute bit with piano prodigy Donald Yung3 before going into a full orchestral arrangement.
Enjoy your song of the day!
He had only been a jingle writer before this and he was signed to Bell Records for his songwriting, not his singing.
Dude just can’t stop himself from arranging.
As far as I can tell, this was the height of his career. There’s no record of him ever playing professionally again.
What a great piece ! There are connections I didn't know: Tony Orlando and Ron Dante. And the latter lets me add something to your piece: There is a second disco version of the song. Ron Dante, like so many producers of his era, jumped on the disco bandwagon in 1979. His project was called Dante's Inferno and they recorded their version of "Could It Be Magic" (and kept Melissa in the lyrics although the target audience was clearly gay). Anyway now I understand why they recorded it 😃 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCfJtCvtmXE
The lifespan of a song is so fascinating! Thanks for sharing :)