Copacabana (song)

The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow and Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, when they discussed whether there had ever been a song called "Copacabana". After returning to the U.S., Manilow—who, in the 1960s, had been a regular visitor to the Copacabana nightclub in New York City—suggested that Sussman and Feldman write the lyrics to a story song for him. They did so, and Manilow supplied the music.^[2]

Lola Falana inspired the song's famous lyric, "Her name is Lola / She was a showgirl".^[3]

The song's lyrics call the Copacabana nightclub "the hottest spot north of Havana". The story focuses on Lola, a Copacabana showgirl, and her sweetheart Tony, a bartender at the club. One night, an ostentatiously wealthy man named Rico takes a fancy to Lola, but Tony intervenes when Rico becomes aggressive. The ensuing brawl ends in a gun being fired; although it is initially unclear "who shot who", it soon becomes apparent that Tony has died. Thirty years later, the club has been transformed into a discotheque, but a middle-aged Lola remains in her showgirl attire, now a customer at the bar who "drinks herself half blind" lamenting the loss of her youth, her sanity, and Tony.^[4]

"Copacabana" debuted on Billboard magazine's Top 40 chart on July 7, 1978, and peaked at number 8. It has also reached the Top 10 in Belgium, Canada, France and the Netherlands. Internationally, the song is Manilow's third-greatest hit.^[5] The track was his first gold single for a song he wrote or co-wrote.^[6] Additionally, the song earned Manilow his first and only Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in February 1979.^[7]

Cash Box said that "a Latin beat, congas and added percussion, strings and horns make it unusual."^[8]

In 1985, Manilow and his collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman expanded the song into a full-length, made-for-television musical, also called Copacabana, writing many additional songs and expanding the plot suggested by the song.

This film version was then further expanded by Manilow, Feldman, and Sussman into a full-length, two-act stage musical, again titled Copacabana, which ran at the Prince of Wales Theatre on London's West End for two years before a lengthy tour of the UK. An American production was later mounted that toured the US for over a year. Over 200 productions of the show have since been mounted worldwide.

• Barry Manilow – vocals, acoustic piano
• Bill Mays – keyboards
• Mitch Holder – guitar
• Will Lee – bass
• Ronnie Zito – drums
• Alan Estes – percussion
• Artie Butler – orchestration
• Ginger Blake, Laura Creamer, Linda Dillard – backing vocals

• Liza Minnelli performed "Copacabana" on a 1979 episode of the American syndicated television program The Muppet Show.^[33][34]
• Kylie Minogue performed the song on her 2008 KylieX2008 tour.^[35]
• The Harvard Din & Tonics performed "Copacabana" in 2024, resulting in a viral TikTok video.^[36]