"Could It Be Magic" is a song composed by American singer-songwriter
Barry Manilow, inspired by Frédéric Chopin's Prelude in C minor,
Opus 28, Number 20 with lyrics written by Adrienne Anderson. Manilow
wrote "Could It Be Magic" one night while he was living in a studio
apartment on 27th Street in Manhattan. He had been playing Chopin on
the piano that afternoon, and the tune inspired by Chopin then came
to him. The source of the inspiration is made explicit in Manilow's
own recording, which quotes directly eight bars of Prelude No. 20
at the start, and ends the same way by returning to the Prelude.
The song was initially released in 1971 by Featherbed (a group of
session musicians featuring Barry Manilow), produced and co-written
by Tony Orlando. It was later re-recorded as a Manilow solo track with
new lyrics by Adrienne Anderson on his eponymous first album released
in 1973 on Bell Records. The original single release was unsuccessful,
with only around 35,000 copies sold by 1975. It was then remixed
in 1975 after the success of his second album Bary Manilow II
and released as a single again. The 1975 version became
Manilow's third hit after "Mandy" and "It's A Miracle".
Barry Manilow is the debut album by Barry Manilow, released initially
in July 1973 by Bell Records. The LP peaked at #28 on the
Billboard Pop 200 Albums chart.
A Playlist of all HT Class of '73 Songs of the Day is available by clicking below:
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