Barry Manilow Had Serious Doubts About His 1978 Single Copacabana

"This story talks about love and passion and hatred and violence and murder and alcoholism and neuros[es] and all the fun things in life." This is how Barry Manilow introduced his smash hit "Copacabana" to London's Royal Albert Hall in 1978. The Brooklyn-born, easy-listening crooner had already released five studio albums over five years by then and had gotten some commercial traction, but it was "Copacabana" that shot his career and celebrity into the stratosphere. And he had approximately zero faith that the song would make it big.

As Manilow says in an interview with NBC News, he "really did not put [his] money on" "Copacabana" during the writing and recording process. Despite the dark subject matter, the song sounds like a giddy dance bopper dropped during the height of late-70s disco. But it was still an oddity in comparison to what was popular at the time. As Manilow said in the aforementioned interview, "It sounded really great, but it was a novelty card. Nobody was making songs like that. We never thought it would ever get played on the radio."

Nonetheless, Manilow and his co-writers Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman went ahead with the track for Manilow's 1978 release, "Even Now." Manilow said in his NBC News interview that they then handed the song off to DJs at discos, and everyone loved it. Fast forward to the 21st Grammys in 1979, and Manilow won his first and only Grammy for "Copacabana" (he had a whopping 15 nominations at the time of this writing). "Copacabana" cinched Manilow's career and remains one of his signature songs all the way to the present. 

As Barry Manilow told the audience at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1978, "Copacabana" is a "story song." There are characters like Lola, Tony, and Rico; place names like Havana; specific dances like the cha-cha and the merengue; and a story that reads like a tragic piece of fiction. Such details exist, but listeners can also switch off and just recite the main refrain, "Copa, Copacabana," while dancing around. We have no way of knowing precisely why "Copacabana" caught on so mightily with the listening public, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it stands to reason that all the song's memorable imagery played a part. And yes, it's also got a hooky chorus and Manilow's ever-charismatic delivery.

The song's success was also a mystery to Manilow and his co-writers. "I just write them [the songs]," he said of his career to NBC News. "And if I'm lucky, I make a great record out of it. And that's it. That's all I know." As stated, "Copacabana" earned a Grammy, but it also stands as Manilow's second-most streamed song on Spotify after "Mandy," at about 180 million listens. This is out of a ton of commercially successful songs, too. We're talking 25 top 40 hits from 1974 to 1983 alone, which is an absolutely bananas track record. At this point, it might be time for him and his songwriting buddies to stop wondering if they're going to make a hit or not and just dance in glee like they're back at the Copa, Copacabana.