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, that it would make for a good episode of the soap Eastenders.

Barry Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus, on June 17th, 1943, in New York City, United States, shortly before his 13th birthday, his grandfather had his name changed to ‘Manilow,’ the maiden name of his mother, his parents had been divorced when he was a baby. Barry Manilow got his grounding in the music industry during the 1960’s, writing, singing, and recording hit jingles for business corporations which included ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken, ‘Pepsi,’ and ‘McDonalds.’ In 1969 Manilow signed with ‘Columbia/CBS Music’ vice-president and recording artist, Tony Orlando, (see also best songs 886) and Orlando worked with Manilow on some of his early recordings.

With record sales in excess of 85 million, Barry Manilow is one of the best selling artists of all time. He has released 31 studio Albums between 1973-2020, and 57 singles between 1973-2022, there are also 17 official compilation Albums, six live Albums, and four soundtrack Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, he has had 25 top 40 hits, with three of those tracks ‘Mandy,’ (1974) ‘I Write the Songs,’ (1975) and ‘Looks Like We Made It,’ (1977) all making the Number 1 spot, with ‘Copacabana (At the Copa’) reaching Number 8. In the UK he has charted within the top 40 on 13 occasions, with ‘I Wanna Do It With You,’ being his only top 10 hit, when peaking at Number 8 in 1982.

‘Copacabana (At the Copa’) was the third of four singles released from ‘Even Now,’ the fifth studio Album from Barry Manilow, from February 1978. ‘Copacabana (At the Copa’) was co-written by Barry Manilow (music) and Jack Feldman, and Bruce Sussman, who both wrote the lyrics, the song was produced by Manilow, and Ron Dante. ‘Copacabana (At the Copa’) was inspired by a conversation between Barry Manilow, and Bruce Sussman, at the ‘Copacabana Hotel,’ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when they discussed whether there had ever been a song written about the ‘Copacabana.’ Barry Manilow had been a regular visitor to the ‘Copacabana’ nightclub in New York City (named after the hotel) in the 1960’s. Bruce Sussman who co-wrote the songs lyrics has said,’We thought we were writing the ‘novelty’ cut for Barry’s ‘Even Now’ Album. ‘Copacabana’ surprised everyone, certainly us, and especially ‘Arista Records,’ for they were faced with the first of Barry’s hits that was forced off an Album. This put Barry in the unique position of having three hit records in the Top 40 at once. It earned for him his first, and believe it or not, only ‘Grammy’ award, his first gold single for a song he composed, his first international hit record, and the first song to inspire projects in other media. So much for novelty cuts.’

In 1985 Barry Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, and Jack Feldman, expanded ‘Copacabana (At the Copa’) into a full length, made for television musical, also 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 musical, again titled ‘Copacabana,’ which ran initially in London’s West End, an American production was later developed, that toured the United States. Over 200 productions of the show have since been staged worldwide.

‘Copacabana (At the Copa’) tells the story of a showgirl (Lola) and her bartender boyfriend (Tony.) A gangster called Rico takes a fancy to Lola, but he oversteps 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.

‘Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl, with yellow feathers in her hair, and a dress cut down to there. She would Merengue and do the Cha-Cha, and while she tried to be a star Tony always tended bar. Across the crowded floor, they worked from eight til four, they were young and they had each other, who could ask for more.’