Favorite Barry Manilow song?

Copacabana (Duh)

Studio Musician

Are you a Fanilow, OP?

Old disco, It’s a Miracle.

Could This Be Magic made me cry as a kid.

But I think this one is perhaps his finest/best crafted. He sings a version that can be found on YouTube, but I love this one.

It reminds me of my mother, of course.

Weekend in New England and I Write the Songs.

Favorite Barry Manilow wig?

Here’s mine.

Both "Even Now" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again" can make me cry. Look, if those two songs had been written by anyone other than Barry Manilow, and recorded first by Sinatra, they'd be considered classics.

He had a ton of good ones. I'd go with Weekend in New England.

Weekend in New England for me as well.

Although, Somewhere in the Night is up there and I'll always have a soft spot for Mandy.

Read ‘em ‘n Weep.

Still love Could It Be Magic. Have to be in the right sentimental mood, but when I am, damn, I love that song so much.

Delish!

This one is typically saccharine and reeks of insincere inspiration.

I’ve always loved it.

My favorite Barry Manilow song not performed by Barry Manilow.

Mandy!🐶

“Could It Be Magic”. Masterful. I also loved Donna Summer’s version.

Another beauty.

In the mid-90s he released a pretty good dance remix of Could It Be Magic on a Greatest Hits album.

It was released alongside a dance version of Really Love To See You Tonight.

this one is pretty awesome

One Voice, bitches.

Barry has had so many good songs...

To think of all the money Barry has spent on hair, makeup, and cosmetic surgery over the years...

Maybe he'd have been better off just playing the piano at the Baths...

New York City Rhythm

This One's for You...

and would you like to join Mr. Manilow in his room?

Is Mandy about a man or woman? Man-dy.

Listing off Manilow's hits - it would an interesting list of all of the lyricists and arrangers he worked with over the decades. The pop music industry changed so drastically in the early 1960s that the lyricists took a back seat to the singer.

I be a lot of people think that Barry wrote the words to many of his hits, but that just ain't the case. Not a criticism, just an observation.

When October Goes

Interesting background from Wiki about When October Goes: In his last year, as he was dying from brain cancer, Mercer became extremely fond of Manilow, in part because Manilow's first hit record was of a song titled "Mandy", which was also the name of Mercer's daughter.

After Mercer's death, his widow, Ginger Mehan Mercer, arranged to give some unfinished lyrics he had written to Manilow to possibly develop into complete songs. Among these was "When October Goes." Manilow applied his own melody to the lyric and issued it as a single in 1984.[2] The song's first appeared was at Manilow's album 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe.

This is also the title of an album put out by Rounder Records and produced by Christine Lavin, which features the title song and other fall related songs by singer/songwriters.

Ships.

His catalogue consists mostly of one drippy, soulless ballad after another.

His career highlight was "Copacabana", which I hated at the time, but I've grown to appreciate.

Also the aforementioned "Paradise Cafe" album, which is the one time in his career when he actually followed his muse and came up with something good.

Also the desperate, misguided efforts in the 80's to breathe life into his dying career are unintentionally amusing, such as this one...

🎵like a good neighbor...State Farm is there 🎶

He was a little too milquetoast for our taste.

......

Mine is New York City Rhythm. I saw him perform live about a year after 9/11 and the crowd was very appreciative of him dedicating a slowed-down version of this song to the spirit of NYC.

Has anyone had him? Nice Jewish boy.

Mandy

Copacabana

Weekend in New England

Can’t stand that schmalzy son of a bitch

An anthem for married closet cases.

When someone asks your for your favorite, why would you list three? Such a faggy thing to do. Or maybe these freaks are the single ones, they can't just be happy with one.

^because all three are my favorites. 😳 Shocking, right!?

“Trying To Get The Ferling Again” was one of his best.

But Karen did it better.

I have two: "It's A Miracle" (the single version, not the album version) and "Could It Be Magic" (the 1993 version).

R42, really? The KC version sounds like she sang solo in a tunnel in Central Park and the producers layered it into a pre-recorded instrumental track.

O-U-C-H.

Somewhere in the Night, Even Now and Mandy

When my niece and nephew were teenagers they loved to laugh at me and my younger brother (their father) for liking and playing loudly Weekend in New England. Their father (and my beloved brother) died a few years ago and these two total hipsters LOVE Manilow straight up, no irony. The sound just brings back their father to them. I will always love Manilow for this.

The Last Duet. With Lily Tomlin.

My favorite cover of my favorite Manilow song.

It’s difficult for me to choose just one song. I absolutely love Barry’s music and voice. True talent.

R31, ugh, that song from the mid 80s was horrendous!

But I like Barry Manilow music from the 70s, with Mandy being a favorite.

Those fanilows are a trip. The president of his US fan club was an employee in our Chicago office back in the 80s. Let me just say, she was rather strange.

The one where he doesn’t sing

Manilow did album of 70s remakes in the mid-90s.

I'd really love to see you tonight got a dance remix:

I would have loved to hear Luther Vandross do some of these songs. Imagine him doing Weekend in New England or Trying to Get the Feeling Again.

Culturally Jewish--young jewish mother and immigrant grandparents in NYC. But his father was Irish. Not sure his father was in his life much.

All of them

Anyone with expertise in music or vocals, pls weigh in on Manilow's talent.

I know that his formal education is in composing and arranging and that's what he enjoys doing. It's also what makes his concerts great, he has spent 50 years rearranging these songs over and over, making them bigger and bigger. Even when he does the disco version of COULD IT BE MAGIC in his concerts, he points out its HIS version, meaning he produced and arranged it, its not the Donna Summer version.

Next month, he's at Radio City with a full orchestra. I guarantee he is busy re-arranging those songs and arranging some new ones for that performance. I saw a christmas concert where he was probably the only person excited in the theater about doing My favorite Things song with a bigger horn section than he usually has.

All-time fav: I Write the Songs, Even Now

Lesser Known: If I Should Love Again, Read 'Em and Weep, Beautiful Music, Lay Me Down, Ships, Somewhere in the Night, Leaving in the Morning, Where Do I Go From Here, I Don't Want To Walk Without You

Love Barry

Oh Margie, you came and you found me a turkey...

R57, you're right that composing and arranging are what he learned to do very early and he keeps at it, but he is also a showman. I saw Barry at Radio City Music Hall on New Years' Eve, back in, I think '83. I attended the early show (he did 2 that evening!). It's 40 years since and I still remember how incredible that show/concert/performance was.

We, the audience, "celebrated" new Years', the show ended, we left. He and everyone else on that stage went into dressing rooms and such to wind down so they could wind up again for a second show that would end after midnight!

And in case folks don't know, he did a lot of arranging for Bette when she was recording her tribute albums to R Clooney and other girl singers. His arrangements for/with Bette are delightful.

I can’t pick only one so I offer my Top 5-

Somewhere in the Night

The Old Songs

Read ‘em and Weep

Somewhere Down the Road

Tryin’ to the Get the Feeling Again

Holy crap, what is this?

Mandy.

I never understand all of the hate Manilow receives. This is a great thread — so many touching posts.

Amongst soooooo many (and most have already been said above better than I could) great songs, I’ll add Keep Each Other Warm.

r64 He's unique in the music industry for a lot of reasons. There is nothing cool or edgy about him or his music. He comes across as a goofy, likable music geek. He was nearly 30 when he became a superstar and nearly all massive superstars of music are on the public's radar by late teens/early 20s. And his theatrical leanings in music (plus his music education) probably stopped him from allowing others to take over his albums. Normally, recording artists who stop selling find the biggest producers possible and try anything in a desperate attempt to regain relevance. Manilow didn't need to be desperate-he had so many hits in the 70s (in addition to tons of songs that charted) and is so great on stage that he was always able to tour successfully.

I do prefer his “Memory”(from’Cats’), to Streisand’s. I like his wryly corny “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You”.

Cloudburst is always fun

Looks Like We Made It.

The lyrics and meaning for a love song are so unusual and bittersweet, really beautiful. Barry didn’t write it, but he definitely delivers it.

Looks like we made it Loved each other all the way to another to love

I love Barry’s Tryna to Get the Feeling Again

And have to agree R42 I prefer Karen Carpenter version

My partner and I call it the Book Look song because I love her emphasis on Book and Looked. Love the dark tones she brings in. And ‘once again’

Bette and Barry Bathhouse Days; She was pissed off when he left

Manilow was her arranger in the early New York days, and he produced her first two albums: "The Divine Miss M," which won her the first Grammy for best new artist in 1973, and "Bette Midler," the platinum follow-up.

"Barry was with me for the whole ride up," Midler says. "We didn't talk about what was happening to us at the time. We just kept doing this date and that date. We never once stopped to say how amazing it all was."

The two perfectionists also gained infamy for their fuel-injected disagreements. Midler smiles and recalls, "Epic battles. Very stressful times. We argued a lot, especially during the live shows.

"There were also some wonderful times, but we ended badly. He sort of stomped off -- really to start his own career -- and I said, 'Ah, let him go,"' she adds, waving her hand. "I was pissed off, and I didn't want to confront what had happened," Midler says. "I figured that if Barry was irreplaceable, I couldn't go on."

Manilow adds, "We're both high-strung and passionate and opinionated." And 30 years later, he remains a man with a clear vision: "I put the 'p' in prepared," he says.

Bette always seemed so hard to like. Nothing really appeals to me about her. #TeamBarry

Looks Like We Made It is, for me, another example of a song made famous by Barry as a "Manilow" song, but he neither wrote nor composed it. Such a change in the music industry... once upon a time we knew the names of lyricists and composers.

The song is written by Will Jennings - a name I don't know, but a man whose song writing credits and awards are extensive, awards numerous.

And for you Barry fans, Jennings also wrote Somewhere in the Night.

The fact he didn't write most of his big hits is besides the point. In almost every case, Manilow arranged and produced a song with his pop / broadway approach and turned it into something much bigger and greater than it started as.

Also the ends of his songs are worth skipping to if anyone is checking out these songs on youtube. If you get lazy or arent into a song, check out the last 60-90 seconds of a track to see why people mention it.

As a twink in the 1980s, I LOVED “I’m Your Man.”

Sugar Walls

Nobody can do a key change better than Barry.

Love him.

He wrote SOMEWHERE IN MY LIFETIME for Phyllis Hyman. Gorgeous song.

R42 - RIP Karen she was an amazing singer.

R38 well I can’t stand you either.

No love for I Can’t Smile Without You?

A LINDA SONG

Mandy

A Manilow thread without acknowledging his 80th birthday...?!?!?!? (6/17)

I've been a Fanilow since 1975's "Mandy".

I think my favorite 80s Manilow song is "Stay" from 83.