Gonna Fly Now
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| "Gonna Fly Now" | ||
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| Single by Bill Conti, DeEtta Little and Nelson Pigford | ||
| from the album Rocky - Original Motion Picture Score | ||
| Released | 1976 | |
| Length | 2:48 | |
| Writer(s) | Bill Conti, Carol Connors, Ayn Robbins | |
| Producer | Bill Conti | |
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |
"Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from Rocky", is the theme song from the movie Rocky, composed by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, and performed by Detta Little and Nelson Pigford. Released in 1976 with the movie Rocky, the song became part of American popular culture after main character Rocky Balboa completed his daily training regimen while the song played. The song finishes as Rocky completes his famous run up the "Rocky Steps" of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raises his arms in a victory pose. The song is also often played at sporting events, especially at sporting events in the city of Philadelphia or featuring sports teams from there.
The song (whose lyrics have a total count of 30 words) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in the 49th Academy Awards. The version of the song from the movie, performed by Conti with an orchestra, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977, while a version by jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson hit the top 30. Disco versions by Rhythm Heritage and Current were on the chart at the same time. Conti's single was certified gold by the RIAA. The American Film Institute placed it 58th on its AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list.
In Rocky II, an alternate version of the song was used, with a children's choir singing the chorus. Rocky III included an updated disco influenced arrangement during the training montage on the beach. This recording is however missing from the soundtrack album, the sleeve notes of which say "All music on this album selected by Sylvester Stallone", who instead opted to reprise the original versions of "Gonna Fly Now" and "Reflections" from the first film and "Conquest" from the second installment. Thus the album fails to present the actual score recorded for Rocky III.
Rocky IV was scored by Vince DiCola who mainly introduced new themes of his own but "Gonna Fly Now" returned with its composer for later installments. In Rocky Balboa, a slightly alternate version of the song used more trumpets and different vocal tones. The soundtrack for that film also includes a vocal remix performed by Natalie Wilde.
[edit] In popular culture
Due to its original use, the song is used frequently in various forms of popular media where a main character is forced to train hard in order to defeat an opponent, often during a montage sequence.
- American politician and former Vice President Walter Mondale used this as his campaign song in 1984.
- Toronto's Citytv used Canadian Maynard Ferguson's version of the theme for its CityPulse newscasts throughout the 1980s, but had phased out "Gonna Fly Now" entirely by the 2000s (a variant is still used by cable news outlet, CP24 which was formerly affiliated/co-owned with Citytv). A few other local television stations in the United States had also used Ferguson's arrangement of the theme on their newscasts in the past. [1]
- "Gonna Fly Now" is also used as closing music on BBC Radio Five Live's sports panel show Fighting Talk.
- Canadian singer Esthero sampled the music for track Dragonfly's Outro on her album Wikked Lil' Grrrls.
- Finnish Elite league ice hockey team Jokerit, from Helsinki, have chosen to play the song whenever they score a goal on their home ice, at the Hartwall Areena.
- In Crouching Ninja Hidden Teddy, the 2005 short film by British film company Splats, this song is played when Steve Gibbs delivers the Ninjas into the school.
- At the beginning of every Philadelphia Eagles home game at Lincoln Financial Field, a video montage of Gonna Fly Now is shown on the Jumbotron screen. It is composed of clips of the Rocky series and clips of the team's stars from past games.
- On an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, lead character Will Smith trains to defeat a childhood bully. Scenes of his training are shown with this song playing, including a similar scene of Will running up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.
- A variation of this theme was featured in the Wii release of Sega's dancing rhythm game, Samba de Amigo.
- In the 2008 comedy movie You Don't Mess with the Zohan, the antagonist "Phantom" parodied the training montage from Rocky including running up a sand dune since there were no large flights of stairs available.
[edit] References
- "Gonna Fly Now". "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)". http://www.superseventies.com/sw_gonnaflynow.html. Retrieved on February 12 2005.
| Preceded by "Got to Give It Up (Part 1)" by Marvin Gaye |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single July 2, 1977 |
Succeeded by "Undercover Angel" by Alan O'Day |
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