Scott English wrote the lyrics and recorded this song in 1971 as "Brandy." His version was a hit in the UK. In the US, this was changed to "Mandy" to avoid confusion with the Looking Glass hit "
Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)."
Among the other songs English co-wrote was 1968's "
Bend Me, Shape Me," a #5 hit for The American Breed in the US and #3 hit for Amen Corner in the UK. He also co-penned "
Hi Ho Silver Lining," a #4 UK hit for Jeff Beck in 1967 and "Help Me Girl," a Top 40 hit for The Animals in 1966 in both the UK and US.
Richard Kerr wrote the music. Kerr is a pianist who teamed up with
Will Jennings to write two more hits for Manilow: "
Looks Like We Made It" and "Somewhere In The Night."
"Mandy" was Manilow's first hit single and the first song on Clive Davis' Arista Records label (formerly Bell) to hit the Billboard Hot 100.
The bit about "Mandy" being about Manilow's dog is an urban myth. Songwriter and original performer Scott English says he was woken by a phone call from a reporter, wanting to know who "Brandy" was. "I would have said anything to get rid of him," said English, "So I spat out the first thing that came to mind: It was about a dog like Lassie and I had sent her away - now you go away!' And I hung up on him."
The Simpsons reworked "Mandy" as "Margie" the 1993 episode "The Last Temptation of Homer," where he feels torn between his attractive new co-worker (Mindy) and his own wife, Marge. He and Marge end up in a hotel room together, and she discovers a turkey behind the bed. He starts singing to her, "Oh, Margie, you came and you found me a turkey."
The song was used on an episode of Family Guy titled "Back to the Woods." Barry Manilow comes to Quahog, but not without a little bit of criticism from Peter and his friends, until all admit they are closet Manilow fans. In the episode, Barry plays himself and sings his own version of "Mandy," re-titled as "Quagmire" for having an exotic name. The words are the same, but the name has changed.
"Mandy" was the first of 13 #1 hits for Manilow on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Manilow was taken aback when Clive Davis said they needed to find the singer a hit record. "'Find me one?' I thought. I was a songwriter!
I write the songs!" he recalled in the liner notes to his 1992 anthology,
The Complete Collection and Then Some.
But Davis was more interested in Manilow's growth as a singer and entertainer, and told him he shouldn't limit himself to only performing original songs. Still, Manilow was certain he could write a hit, but he was a bit out of touch when it came to popular radio tunes.
"The next afternoon I tuned on a Top 40 radio station. They were playing something called '
Kung Fu Fighting'! Then I changed to another station. They were playing '
Bungle In The Jungle'! On another they were playing a polka by Bobby Vinton called 'My Melody Of Love'!!! I didn't have a chance!
But I knew one thing: The Top 40 needed me desperately!"
So Manilow relented and agreed to give "Brandy" a chance.
In order to learn the song, Manilow slowed it down and played it like a ballad, which he thought suited him better than the uptempo arrangement. Davis, however, was insistent that he record it in the manner of the original - that is, until he heard it. Manilow, who put the track together with his co-producer Ron Dante and a small rhythm section, recalled the awkward listening session:
"'What's that?' he said as we played the song back.
'Brandy,' I said. 'It's exactly like the record you sent me.'
'Well it's all wrong,' he said. And we all sat there and looked at each other.
Michael Delugg, our engineer, tweaked dials and fades and played it back again.
'I hate it,' said Clive."
Feeling desperate, Manilow told him about the ballad version and offered to play it for him. Davis loved it, and they recorded it right then and there.
Thanks to the success of the album
Barry Manilow II, Clive Davis wanted to reissue the singer's 1973 self-titled debut album as
Barry Manilow I, featuring reworked versions of some of the tracks. One of them was the ballad "
Could It Be Magic," which became a Top 10 hit.
Scott English wasn't aware of Manilow's cover until he spotted his own name, along with Kerr's, in Billboard magazine as one of the songwriters.
"I, of course, didn't want to like it," he recalled in the 1992 compilation's liner notes. "You know what it is, ego and all that, but it sounded very beautiful. This record went to shake the rafters of the world - just as I knew it would when we were writing it way back when."
As for Kerr, he first heard the song through the walls of a room at his publisher's office in Los Angeles. "It stopped me in my tracks because it sounded so beautiful to me and because I didn't know who Barry was," he said.
We have "Mandy" to thank for the annual Clive Davis Grammy party, an industry staple held every year before the ceremony. Davis threw the first party in 1976 to celebrate "Mandy," which was nominated for Record Of The Year. It didn't win ("
Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain & Tennille did), but the party was such a hit that it became an annual event attended by many of the biggest stars.
The Irish boyband Westlife covered this for their fourth album, Turnaround (2003). Their version was a #1 hit in the UK, where it was also named Record of the Year.
"Mandy" was used in these TV shows:
Too Old To Die Young ("Volume 5: The Fool" - 2019)
Everybody Hates Chris ("Everybody Hates Minimum Wage" - 2007)
Angel ("Orpheus" - 2003)
Will & Grace ("Fanilow" - 2003)
That '70s Show ("Grandma's Dead" - 1999)
And these movies:
Never Goin' Back (2018)
Virginia (2010)
You, Me, And Dupree (2006)
Can't Hardly Wait (1998)
Happiness (1998)
