THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

750-Barry Manilow-Copacabana (At the Copa.)

1978-Number 42 single.

Best Bit-At 3.23.The story line to the song is so depressing, it would make for a good episode of the soap Eastenders.

The song is about a showgirl (Lola,) and her bartender boyfriend (Tony.) A gangster called Rico takes a fancy to Lola, but he over steps the mark, Tony comes to her aid, but in the ensuing brawl, Tony is shot, and killed. In the final verse we find Lola, sat in the same club, which is now a disco, drunk, and still grieving for Tony, while dressed in her glamorous showgirl attire she wore from 30 years earlier.According to the songs narrator,’Lola lost her youth, and she lost her Tony, and now she’s lost her mind.’

‘Copacabana (At the Copa,’) was co-written by Jack Feldman, and Bruce Sussman, providing the lyrics, and Barry Manilow providing the music. The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow, and Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel, in Rio de Janeiro, where they discussed if a song had ever been written about the Copacabana Hotel, Manilow had been a regular visitor to the Copacabana Nightclub in New York City, in the 1960’s.

In 1985 Manilow, Sussman, and Feldman expanded the song in to a full length, made for television musical called ‘Copacabana,’writing many additional songs, and expanding the plot. In 1994 the television version was further expanded by the three writers, and made in to a full length, two act stage musical again titled ‘Copacabana,’which ran initially in London’s West End, an American production was later developed, that toured the United States.

‘Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl, with yellow feathers in her hair, and a dress cut down to there.’