"Do You Believe in Magic" is a song written by John Sebastian. It was first recorded and released by his group, The Lovin' Spoonful in 1965. The single peaked at number 9 on the BillboardHot 100 chart. In 1978, Shaun Cassidy reached the top 40 with his cover version. The song has been recorded by various artists.
The Lovin' Spoonful version
Song history
In 1965, the group The Lovin' Spoonful released the song as the first single from their debut studio album Do You Believe in Magic. The single was well received by the public and became a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 9. According to the lyrics, the magic referenced in the title is the power of music to supply happiness and freedom to both those who make it and those who listen to it. Session drummer Gary Chester played tambourine on the track.[3] The Lovin' Spoonful's version was ranked number 216 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In a 2007 DVD entitled The Lovin' Spoonful with John Sebastian - Do You Believe in Magic, author Sebastian illustrates how he sped up the three-chord intro from Martha and the Vandellas' "Heat Wave" to come up with the intro to "Do You Believe in Magic".
"Do You Believe in Magic" became a top forty hit again in 1978 in both the U.S. and Canada when Shaun Cassidy released his cover as a single. Cassidy's version reached number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was Cassidy's second successful remake of a 1960s hit, the first being "Da Doo Ron Ron" from his previous LP.
In the 1987 show Barbie and The Rockers episode "Out Of This World", Barbie and The Rockers sing a cover of the song as they prepare to do a concert in outer space.
In 1989, Kids Incorporated covered "Do You Believe in Magic" in the Season 6 episode "Stop The Presses".[9]
In 1992, McDonald's used a rewritten version of the song for some of their commercials, replacing all of the lyrics (except for the first line) with ones pertaining to their talking Happy Meal items, specifically hamburgers, and Ronald McDonald.
In 2002, David Cassidy released the song on the USA version of his album Then and Now having also performed the song in a Christmas promotional television advertisement for Mervyn's department store
In 2010 a few bars were used as background music to a television commercial for the Chase Bank iPhone app which allows remote check deposits using the iPhone camera.