Brandy (Scott English song)

Under the title "Brandy", the selection's original title, the song charted in 1971 for Scott English, one of its co-composers, whose version of it reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also released in the United States, where it was a minor hit, remaining in the lower portion of the Hot 100.

The suggestion that Scott English wrote the song about a favorite dog is apparently false. English later 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.^[3] In a 2013 interview, he said the idea for the song title came while he was in France and someone tried to make a dirty joke saying "Brandy goes down fine after dinner, doesn't she" although in English, a drink does not actually have a grammatical gender, and the line does not have the intended double entendre. He later wrote the song in London. He said he hated the Manilow version because he took out part of a verse and made it a bridge, but he later loved it because it bought him houses. The song was inspired by his life, he said, the face in the window being his father.^[4]

Record World said it was "just the sort of slightly uptempo pop ballad that should click on these shores."^[5]

In 1972, Bunny Walters recorded "Brandy" and had a hit with it in New Zealand.^[12] The backing vocals were by The Yandall Sisters. He later included the song on his album Very Best of Bunny Walters.^[13]

Quick facts "Mandy", Single by Barry Manilow ...

"Mandy"
One of side-A labels of the US single
Single by Barry Manilow
from the album Barry Manilow II
B-side	"Something's Comin' Up"
Released	October 7, 1974
Recorded	1974
Genre	Soft rock[15]
Length	3:15 (single version) 3:32 (album version)
Label	Bell
Songwriters	Scott English, Richard Kerr
Producers	Barry Manilow, Ron Dante
Barry Manilow singles chronology
"Let's Take Some Time to Say Goodbye" (1974) "Mandy" (1974) "It's a Miracle" (1975)
Music video
"Mandy" (TopPop, 1973) on YouTube

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In 1974, Barry Manilow recorded the song under the title name of "Mandy". The song was Manilow's first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart, and his first gold single.

Following English's 1971 recording of "Brandy", Looking Glass's "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" hit No. 1 in 1972. When Clive Davis suggested that Manilow record English's song, Manilow changed the title to "Mandy" to avoid confusion. Joe Renzetti arranged the record.^[16]

In the Manilow version, the first two lines from the fourth verse, following the instrumental section, were omitted. They were:

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

The remaining lines were then used as a bridge instead.

Cash Box said "a lushly orchestrated ballad it is a classic love song with Barry doing some fine piano work."^[17] Record World said that "Manilow's performance builds from his solo foundation to the rafters of Joe Renzetti's romantic strings."^[18]

In "Judgment," the season 2 premiere of Angel, the eponymous protagonist sings "Mandy" at Lorne's Caritas karaoke bar in exchange for information.^[19]

The song is used for the intro of the British comedy series Mandy.^[20]

Quick facts "Mandy", Single by Westlife ...

"Mandy"
Single by Westlife
from the album Turnaround
Released	November 17, 2003 (2003-11-17)[41]
Studio	Rokstone Olympic (London, UK)
Length	3:19
Label	RCA, BMG, S
Songwriters	Scott English, Richard Kerr
Producer	Steve Mac
Westlife singles chronology
"Hey Whatever" (2003) "Mandy" (2003) "Obvious" (2004)
Music video
"Mandy" on YouTube

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Irish boy band Westlife covered "Mandy" in 2003 and released it as the second single from their fourth studio album, Turnaround (2003), in November 2003. The single entered at number one on the UK Singles Chart on the 23rd November 2003, to become the band's 12th number-one single, thus also becoming the group's 16th consecutive UK top 5 hit.^[42] The single sold over 200,000 copies in the UK to earn a silver sales certification.^[43] Westlife's version was the fifth-best-selling single of 2003 in Ireland. "Mandy" is the band's 16th-best-selling single in paid-for and combined sales in the UK as of January 2019.^[44]

The music video was filmed in the United Grand Lodge of England, Freemasons' Hall, London. Their version won them their third Record of the Year award in under five years.^[45] Their version is also the longest leap to the top (from 200 to 1) in UK music history.^[46] In Westlife - Our Story, the band said the idea to record and release the song was Simon Cowell's.^[47]

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

• Andy Williams (1975)^[80]
• Johnny Mathis (1975)^[81]
• Ray Conniff & The Singers (1975)
• Patty Pravo (1975) in Italian as "Rispondi" on her Incontro album.
• Kai Hyttinen (1975) sung as "Leena" with Finnish text by Vexi Salmi.
• Claude François (1976) sang the French version ("Mandy" as well)
• Jimmy Castor did a mostly instrumental version on his album Maximum Stimulation in 1977.^[82]
• Karel Gott (1977) covered it as a Christmas song titled "Jsou svátky", with Czech lyrics written by Zdeněk Borovec.
• Drop Nineteens (1992)^[83]
• Richard Clayderman (1994)^[84]
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (1997)^[85]
• Yuki Koyanagi (2000)^[86]
• The Langley Schools (2001) recorded a version in 1976-7, discovered and rereleased 25 years later in The Langley Schools Music Project^[87]
• Catedral (2002), a brazilian rock band, recorded the song with lyrics in portuguese, titled the song as "Meu bem" for their album "Mais Do Que Imaginei"^[88]
• Box Car Racer (2002)
• Mandy & Randy (2003)^[89]
• Helmut Lotti (2003)^[90]
• Bradley Joseph (2005)
• Clay Aiken (2005)
• Donny Osmond (2007)^[91]
• Jang Keun-suk (2011)
• The Bad Plus (2016)^[92]
• Joe Pernice (2020)^[93]

• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1975 (U.S.)
• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1974 (U.S.)
• List of number-one singles of 2003 (Ireland)
• List of number-one singles from the 2000s (UK)