Brandy (Scott English song)

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For the 1919 Irving Berlin song, see Mandy (1919 song).

"Mandy", originally titled "Brandy", is a song jointly written and composed by Scott English and Richard Kerr.[1]

"Brandy" was a hit in 1971 for Scott English in the UK and in 1972 for Bunny Walters in New Zealand but achieved greater success when covered in 1974 by Barry Manilow in the US with the title changed to "Mandy" to avoid confusion with Looking Glass's "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)." His version reached the top of the US Hot 100 Singles Chart. Later on, it was recorded by many other artists. Irish boyband Westlife had a UK #1 with their version in 2003.

Scott English version

"Brandy"
Song
B-side"Lead Me Back"

Under the title "Brandy", the selection's original title, the song charted in 1971 for Scott English, one of its joint authors-composers, whose version of it reached number 12 in the UK Singles Charts. It was also released in the United States, but it was not successful there.

The suggestion that Scott English wrote the song about a favorite dog is apparently an urban legend. English has said that a reporter called him early one morning asking who "Brandy" was, and an irritated English made up the "dog" story to get the reporter off his back.[2]

Charts

Chart (1971) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 12
US Billboard Singles Chart 91

Bunny Walters version

"Brandy"
Song

In 1972, Bunny Walters recorded "Brandy" and had a hit with it in New Zealand.[3] The backing vocals were by The Yandall Sisters. He later on included it in his album Very Best of Bunny Walters[4]

Chart (1972) Peak
position
New Zealand Singles Chart 4

Barry Manilow version

"Brandy"
Song
B-side"Something's Comin' Up"

In 1974, recorded by Barry Manilow under the title "Mandy", the song was Manilow's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts, and his first gold single.

In the three years between English's 1971 recording and Manilow's, Looking Glass had charted with a selection titled "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" in 1972. Therefore, to avoid confusion, when Manilow decided to record the selection, he changed the title to "Mandy." It was Clive Davis who suggested that Manilow record the selection.Joe Renzetti arranged the record.[5] Manilow originally recorded it as an up-tempo bubblegum pop tune similar to English's original, but he and his producer, Ron Dante, reportedly hated the way it turned out; thus, he re-recorded it as a ballad and was much more pleased with the results. It was Manilow's first hit single and the first song on Clive Davis's Arista Records label (formerly Bell Records) to hit the Billboard Hot 100.[6]

In the Manilow version, the fist two lines from the fourth verse following the instrumental section, were omitted, being:

"Riding on a country bus"/ No one even noticed us."


Charts

Chart (1974) Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart 1
German Singles Chart 19
Irish Singles Chart 6
New Zealand Singles Chart 30
UK Singles Chart 11
US Hot 100 Singles Chart 1

Westlife version

"Brandy"
Song

"Mandy" was covered by the band Westlife in 2003 and was released as the second single from their fourth studio album, Turnaround. The single peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart to become the band's twelfth number-one single on the chart. The single sold over 190,000 copies in UK.[7]

Track listing

UK CD1
  1. "Mandy" (Single Remix) – 3:19
  2. "You See Friends (I See Lovers)" – 4:11
  3. "Greased Lightning" – 3:19
  4. "Mandy" (video) – 3:19
  5. "Mandy" (making of the video) – 2:00
UK CD2
  1. "Mandy" (single remix) – 3:19
  2. "Flying Without Wings" (live) – 3:41

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart 16
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart 50
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia)[8] 3
Danish Singles Chart 2
Dutch Singles Chart 27
German Singles Chart 14
Irish Singles Chart 1
Norwegian Singles Chart 15
Swedish Singles Chart 4
Swiss Singles Chart 30
UK Singles Chart 1

End of year charts

End of year chart (2003) Position
Irish Singles Chart 5
UK Singles Chart 32

Chart successions

Preceded by Irish IRMA number one single
22 November 2003 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number-one single
November 23, 2003 (1 week) 		Succeeded by

Other versions

"Mandy" has been covered many times. Notable cover versions include:

In popular culture

  • The Simpsons parodied this in the episode "The Last Temptation of Homer" in which Homer feels torn between his attractive new co-worker (Mindy) and his own wife. At first, Homer is washing up in his bathroom and singing "Mandy" but replacing the name with Mindy, until the last line where he says "Andy" instead. Then late, Homer and Mindy were in a hotel room together, and a turkey slips behind the bed. Later, when Homer brings Marge to the room, he starts singing to her, "Oh, Margie, you came and you found me a turkey." The song is also parodied in the episode "Day of the Jackanapes", in which Krusty sings a new version of the song about Sideshow Bob.
  • The song was parodied in a Will & Grace episode where Grace Adler sang it as "Mommy" while in front of a theatre in which Manilow would perform the following day. She was regretting that her mother was avoiding meeting her.
  • The song was sung by David Boreanaz at a karaoke bar in an episode of Angel.
  • The song was featured in the movie Can't Hardly Wait when one of the characters is obsessed with a classmate named Amanda, and he hears "Mandy" on the radio. In a funny scene in the film, he is told by a friend that the song is actually about a dog.
  • The song was featured in Muzak format in the movie Night at the Museum, when Larry (Ben Stiller) is stranded inside an elevator after being chased.
  • The song was featured in an episode of Family Guy where Peter, Joe, Cleveland and Quagmire attend a Barry Manilow concert. The name "Mandy" is changed to "Quagmire" when Manilow picks him from the audience to come up on stage.
  • In an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Carlton sang this song to a baby who was crying, that he thought was his since the mother is his ex-girlfriend Cindy.
  • The song was featured in the Korean movie You're My Pet and was interpreted by Jang Geun-suk. The first time in the dance studio, and the second (covered in Korean) during the dance show.

See also

References

  1. ^ MANDY (Legal Title), BMI Work #955340 http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=955340&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID
  2. ^ Quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits.
  3. ^ Pop Archives: Brandy by Bunny Walters
  4. ^ New Zealand CDs: Very Best of Bunny Walters
  5. ^ Allmusic.com
  6. ^ Mandy Songfacts
  7. ^ http://www.mtv.co.uk/music/charts/official-uk-countdowns/westlife-official-top-20
  8. ^ "Westlife – Mandy" (in French). Ultratip.

External links

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