"Could It Be Magic" is a song with lyrics by

Adrienne Anderson Adrienne Anderson is an American songwriter, most notable for being the co-writer of "Could It Be Magic", among other Barry Manilow songs, as well as being the co-writer of signature songs for Dionne Warwick ("Déjà Vu") and Peter Allen ("I Go to ...

and music by

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

, inspired by

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

's Prelude in C minor, Opus 28, Number 20. The song was initially released in 1971 by Featherbed (a group of session musicians featuring Barry Manilow), produced and co-written by

Tony Orlando Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

. It was later re-recorded as a Barry Manilow solo track in his first album released in 1973 on

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny ...

. It was then reworked in 1975 and released as a single from the album re-released by

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

. The 1975 release became Manilow's third hit after "

Mandy Mandy or Mandie may refer to: People * Mandy (name), a female given name and nickname * Iván Mándy (1918-1995), Hungarian writer * Mark Mandy (born 1972), Irish retired high jumper * Philip Mandie (born 1942), a former judge on the Supreme Cou ...

" and " It's A Miracle". The song has been recorded by a number of other artists over the years, most successfully by

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

in 1976 and by

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singe ...

in 1992. The version by Take That won the

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for British Single in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Composition and recordings

Manilow wrote "Could It Be Magic" one night while he was living in a studio apartment on 27th Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He had been playing Chopin on the piano that afternoon and the tune inspired by Chopin then came to him. Manilow built the song by elaborating on part of Chopin's Prelude Op. 28, No. 20, and 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 basic shape of the song is that of a single great

crescendo In music, the dynamics of a piece is the variation in loudness between notes or phrases. Dynamics are indicated by specific musical notation, often in some detail. However, dynamics markings still require interpretation by the performer dependi ...

; as Manilow explained, he wanted the song to "build and build" like

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

's "

Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release o ...

" "until you think you can't take it anymore. It should be a musical orgasm." Manilow sent a cassette tape of his tune to his collaborator

, who responded enthusiastically to the song, as did

, vice-president of Columbia/CBS Music, who also contributed lyrics to the version of the song he then produced.

Featherbed version

Manilow was signed by Orlando to New York-based Bell Records in 1969, and Orlando produced a few songs released under the name of Featherbed, a "ghost" group consisting of session musicians including Manilow. Featherbed had a minor success with "Amy" in 1971, a song written by Anderson and performed by Manilow. Manilow at that stage had only composed or arranged commercial jingles, and the arrangement of the backing track for "Could It Be Magic" was left to Orlando after they had a discussion about the song's arrangement. Although Manilow had envisioned a song that builds up like "Hey Jude", Orlando produced and arranged it instead as an uptempo

bubblegum pop Bubblegum (also called bubblegum pop) is pop music in a catchy and upbeat style that is considered disposable, contrived, or marketed for children and adolescents. The term also refers to a rock and pop subgenre, originating in the United States i ...

single with a dance beat and cowbells that more resembled Orlando's own "

Knock Three Times "Knock Three Times" is a popular song credited simply to "Dawn". Tony Orlando was not named on the record. The actual singers were Tony Orlando, Toni Wine, and Linda November, prior to the creation of "Dawn" with Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent ...

". This early version of "Magic" was released as a song by Featherbed on the

label. Manilow hated the Tony Orlando arrangement in Featherbed's version so severely that, as he has said in numerous subsequent interviews, he was appreciative of the fact that the song went nowhere on the charts. However, he has been quoted in recent years as having somewhat softened his opinion of the track, saying it's "kind of catchy". Apart from the chorus, the lyrics of Featherbed's recording have nothing to do with the version Manilow himself recorded for his debut album in 1973 and in 1975.

Manilow solo versions

Manilow co-produced a slower-tempo version of the song with

Ron Dante Ron Dante (born Carmine John Granito, August 22, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and record producer. Dante is best known as the real life lead singer of the fictional cartoon band the Archies; he was also the voice o ...

. Although the chorus of this version is similar to the Featherbed version, the rest of the lyrics are completely different. The "Sweet Melissa" in the lyrics is said to refer to singer

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been carried by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early l ...

, who was Manilow's label-mate and a back-up singer to

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

in the early 1970s. It was released on his debut album ''

'' in 1973, and it also served as the B-side to the single "Cloudburst". Six months later, former Columbia Records president

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

took over Bell Records and merged it into Arista with all the other Columbia Pictures-owned labels. Most of the artists at Bell were dropped during the merger, but Manilow was brought over to Arista in the spring of 1974. Due to the success of Manilow second album ''

Barry Manilow II ''Barry Manilow II'' is the second studio album by Barry Manilow released in 1974. Propelled by the major success of its lead single "Mandy" and featuring a further international hit in " It's a Miracle", the album was a commercial breakthrough fo ...

'', it was decided that Manilow's debut album would be re-released under the Arista label, to be retitled ''Barry Manilow I''. Manilow and Dante reworked four songs in April 1975 for the re-release, including a slightly altered version of "Could It Be Magic", co-arranged with

Joe Renzetti Joe Renzetti (born January 4, 1941) is an American film composer and session musician. He scores for films and television, and composes works for orchestra, chamber groups, and solo artists. Career Born in Philadelphia, Renzetti began his career ...

. Clive Davis heard the song and decided to release it as a single for the Arista re-release despite its length of nearly 7 minutes (most singles then were around 3 minutes long), reasoning that even if it failed to make an impact, people's attention would be diverted by Manilow's soon-to-be-released

third album ''Third Album'' is the third studio album released by the Jackson 5 on Motown Records, and the group's second LP released in 1970, on September 18. ''Third Album'' featured the group's fourth consecutive No. 1 single on the US pop charts, " I' ...

. To make the song radio-friendly, it was shortened to just over 4 minutes for its single release by cutting the bridge in half, deleting the first half of the second verse, and reducing the number of repeats in the final chorus. The single turned out to be successful and reached number 6 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "a glowing arrangement by Manilow and Ron Dante grace the familiar melody which is augmented with a strong, vocal interpretation by Manilow" The song also reached number 25 on the UK charts when it was issued as a single in 1978. The song was again reworked in 1993 using the earlier orchestration of brass and strings, combining it with new drums, bass and synthesizers. This version was included on the album ''Greatest Hits: The Platinum Collection''. An extended remix of the 1993 version was issued as a promotional 12" single and included on the 12" single of "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Donna Summer cover version

Just seven months after Manilow's original version was released as a single, American singer

recorded a disco version of the track and included it on her third studio album, ''

A Love Trilogy ''A Love Trilogy'' is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on March 5, 1976, just eight months after her international breakthrough with the single and album of the same name – " Love to Love ...

'', and took it to number three on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Dance chart in 1976. The song also entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

where it stayed for seven weeks (peak point No. 40). Summer changed the lyrics of "sweet Melissa" to "sweet Peter" as an ode to her boyfriend at the time, Peter Mühldorfer.

Track listing

* US 7" single (Oasis OC 405) / Canada 7" single (Oasis OC 405X) # "Could It Be Magic" – 3:15 # "Whispering Waves" – 4:50 * UK 7" single (GTO GT 60) # "Could It Be Magic" – 3:15 # "Whispering Waves" – 4:50 * Germany 7" single (Atlantic ATL 10 775) # "Could It Be Magic" – 5:20 # "Come With Me" – 4:20 * Netherlands 7" single (Groovy GR 1219) # "Could It Be Magic" – 3:15 # "Whispering Waves" – 4:50 * France 7" single (Atlantic 10.770) # "Could It Be Magic" – 4:13 # "Whispering Waves" – 4:15 * Italy 7" single (Durium DE 2873) # "Could It Be Magic" – 3:15 # "Whispering Waves" – 3:35

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Take That cover version

Produced by

Billy Griffin William L. Griffin (born August 15, 1950) is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for replacing Smokey Robinson as lead singer of The Miracles in 1972. Biography Griffin was born and raised in West Baltimore, Maryland. He attend ...

and

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...

and

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed by

the Rapino Brothers The Rapino Brothers are record producers Charlie Mallozzi and Marco Sabiu, known for their work during the 1990s with artists such as Take That, Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Paola e Chiara, Valerio Scanu, Lydia Canaan and Primal Scream. Ital ...

, English boy band

released their cover version, based on Donna Summer/

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance mu ...

's up-tempo arrangement of the track, on November 30, 1992, as the final

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from their debut album, ''

Take That & Party ''Take That & Party'' is the debut studio album by English boy band Take That. Released on 17 August 1992 on RCA Records, it reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and stayed in the UK Top 75 album chart for 73 weeks (almost 18 months). It wa ...

'' (1992). The song does not appear on the

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

version of the album but was issued as a cassette single. It peaked at number three on the

and was featured in that year's ''

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until t ...

'' Christmas special "

Mother Nature's Son "Mother Nature's Son" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was ins ...

" in the background of one of the scenes. The single reached the top 10 in Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, "Could It Be Magic" peaked at number nine. The song won Take That their first major award: Best British Single at the

1993 Brit Awards Brit Awards 1993 was the 13th edition of the Brit Awards, an annual pop music award ceremony in the United Kingdom. They are run by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 16 February 1993 at Alexandra Palace in London. Performances ...

. During '' The Ultimate Tour'' in 2006, former member

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

appeared on a

hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...

with a pre-recorded section of his vocals.

Gary Barlow Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the British pop group Take That. Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, havi ...

sings lead vocals since Take That's reformation. The song has received a Silver sales status certification and has sold over 345,000 copies in the UK.

Critical reception

In his review of the ''

'' album, Peter Fawthrop from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote, "Hearing

on the tracks here, especially his lead on the cover of

's "Could It Be Magic", brings back a feeling of lost innocence and a perspective on the changing of times."

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

said in his weekly UK chart commentary, "Cleverly they change it from a

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

into a medium-tempo pop/dance tune but although it is also fancied for Christmas No.1 it is just not as strong as songs like '

A Million Love Songs "A Million Love Songs" is a song by English boy band Take That that featured in their debut studio album, '' Take That & Party'' (1992). It was written by lead vocalist Gary Barlow. It was released in the United Kingdom on 28 September 1992 a ...

', their last hit which may well have been a better choice for a Christmas single." Alex Kadis from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' described it as a "spectacular stomperama".

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was produced to promote the single, directed by Saffie Ashtiany. It shows a young woman leaving a garage before the lights are turned back on and Take That perform the song with many other dancers. It was filmed at Bray Studios, Water Oakley, Windsor,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

in 1992. The video was later published on Take That's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel in October 2009. It has amassed more than 9.5 million views as of September 2021.

Track listings

* UK 7-inch vinyl and cassette (74321 12313 7; 74321 12313 4) # Rapino Radio Mix – 3:30 # Take That Radio Megamix – 4:38 * UK 12-inch vinyl (74321 12313 1)(limited-edition w/ poster sleeve) # Deep In Rapino's Club Mix – 5:56 # Take That Club Megamix – 7:03 # Mr. F. Mix – 6:18 * European CD single (74321 12735 2) # Rapino Radio Mix – 3:30 # Deep In Rapino's Club Mix – 5:56 # Ciao Baby Mix – 7:19 # Paparazzo Mix – 5:27 * UK CD single (74321 12313 2) # Rapino Radio Mix – 3:30 # Deep In Rapino's Club Mix – 5:56 # Acapella – 3:12 # Ciao Baby Mix – 7:19 # Rapino Dub – 3:44 # Paparazzo Mix – 5:27 # Deep In Rapino's Dub – 5:57 # Club Rapino Mix – 3:43

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– backing vocals *

Howard Donald Howard Paul Donald (born 28 April 1968) is an English singer, songwriter, drummer, pianist, dancer and record producer. He is a member of English pop-group Take That. Donald was also judge on the German reality talent show ''Got to Dance'' from ...

– backing vocals *

Jason Orange Jason Thomas Orange (born 10 July 1970) is an English former singer and dancer, known for being a member of Take That. He departed from the group in September 2014. Early life Jason Thomas Orange was born on 10 July 1970 in Manchester, Lancashi ...

– backing vocals *

Mark Owen Mark Owen (born 27 January 1972) is an English singer and songwriter best known for being a member of pop group and band Take That; as of 2019, the group have sold 14 million albums and 11.4 million singles in the UK. In Owen's solo career, he ...

– backing vocals

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other notable versions

* French singer

Alain Chamfort Alain Chamfort (born Alain Joseph Yves Le Govic; 2 March 1949) is a French singer of Breton origin. Life and career Chamfort was a promising pianist in his youth, and the piano became his instrument of choice. His first band The Dreamers h ...

released a French-language version of the song under the title "Le temps qui court" in 1975. Chamfort's version was later covered by boy band Alliage in 1997. Their version peaked at number 13 in France and number 32 in Belgium (Wallonia). This version was covered by

Les Enfoirés Les Enfoirés (, 'The Tossers' or 'The Bastards') is the name given to the singers and performers in the yearly charity concert for the Restaurants du Cœur The Restaurants du Cœur (literally ''Restaurants of the Heart'' but meaning ''Restau ...

in 2006, reaching number four in France, number two in Belgium (Wallonia) and number 19 in Switzerland.

Lynda Carter Lynda Jean Cordova Carter (born July 24, 1951) is an American actress, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World USA 1972 and finished in the top 15 at the Miss World 1972 pageant. Carter is best known as the star of th ...

performed the song on her 1980 television special ''Lynda Carter - Encore!'' with Donald Yung and the Value Youth Orchestra.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 1973 singles 1975 singles 1976 singles 1992 singles Barry Manilow songs Pop ballads Donna Summer songs Brit Award for British Single Abigail (singer) songs Take That songs Disco songs Songs written by Adrienne Anderson Songs written by Barry Manilow Song recordings produced by Giorgio Moroder Song recordings produced by Pete Bellotte Arista Records singles Bell Records singles GTO Records singles RCA Records singles Rock ballads 1971 songs 1970s ballads Popular songs based on classical music