Gonna Fly Now
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| "Gonna Fly Now" | ||||
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| Single by Bill Conti | ||||
| from the album Rocky - Original Motion Picture Score | ||||
| Released | February 28, 1977 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Genre | Orchestral | |||
| Length | 2:48 | |||
| Label | United Artists | |||
| Writer(s) | Bill Conti, Carol Connors, Ayn Robbins | |||
| Producer | Bill Conti | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||
| Bill Conti singles chronology | ||||
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"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 DeEtta Little (the sister of actor Cleavon Little) and Nelson Pigford. Released in February 1977 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.
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[edit] Reception
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 own version reveals some early disco influence in the orchestration). Conti's single was certified Gold by the RIAA, for shipments exceeding one million in the United States. The American Film Institute placed it 58th on its AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list.
[edit] Uses
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 different 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] Chart performance
| Chart (1977) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 8 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 22 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
[edit] In popular culture
Due to its original use, the song (or non-copyright infringing soundalikes) 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 a combination of Conti's arrangement of Gonna Fly Now for Rocky II[1] and 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 few other local television stations in the United States had also used Ferguson's arrangement of the theme on their newscasts in the past.[2]
- In one of the episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air captioned "The Philadephia Story", the theme song is played while Will Smith trains for a supposed fight with a local bully in his hometown of Philadelphia. The scene culminates in Will Smith runningup the steps of what appears to be the Philadelphia Museum
- A variation of this theme was featured in the Wii release of Sega's dancing rhythm game, Samba de Amigo.
- The opening trumpet fanfare is sampled by The Murderers, ft. Ja Rule, Black Child, Tah Murdah and Vita for their 1999 rap single which is also featured on the 2000 compilation album, Irv Gotti Presents: The Murderers.[3]
- UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos walks out to the theme.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tcEcExr1Sg
- ^ "SouthernMedia's News Music Search Archive - News themes and news theme music". Southernmedia-nmsa.com. http://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/index.php?page=3,1,760. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
- ^ "Murder INC's...We Don't give a feat Vita". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fua_Wg2FCgM. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
[edit] External links
- "Gonna Fly Now". "Gonna Fly Now (Theme from Rocky)". http://www.superseventies.com/sw_gonnaflynow.html. Retrieved 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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