"Fly, Robin, Fly" is a song by the German disco group

Silver Convention Silver Convention were a German Euro disco recording act of the 1970s. The group was originally named Silver Bird Convention or Silver Bird. History The group was initiated in Munich, then West Germany, by producers and songwriters Michael Kun ...

from their debut studio album '' Save Me'' (1975).

Sylvester Levay Sylvester Levay (originally Lévay Szilveszter, Serbian language, Serbian: Силвестер Леваи, ''Silvester Levai'') is a Hungarian people, Hungarian recording artist and composer, born in Yugoslavia (now Serbia). Life and career Levay ...

and Stephan Prager wrote the song, and the latter produced it. "Fly, Robin, Fly" was released as the third single from ''Save Me'' in September 1975, reaching number one on the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Thanks to the success of "Fly, Robin, Fly", Silver Convention became the second German act to have a number one song on the American music

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

. The song received a Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance in 1976. "Fly, Robin, Fly" carries the distinction of being a ''Billboard'' chart-topper with only six words: the chorus simply repeats "''Fly, Robin, fly''" three times, with an ending of "''Up, up to the sky''". During a segment on VH1's 100 Greatest Dance Songs, it was revealed that the original working title was "Run, Rabbit, Run".

Chart and commercial performances

In the United States, it rose to number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in November 1975, staying there for three weeks. It was both preceded and succeeded by " That's the Way (I Like It)" by KC and the Sunshine Band. The single was also number one on the Soul Singles Chart for one week. "Fly, Robin, Fly" also spent three weeks at number one on the Dance/Disco Chart. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the song also reached the pole position in the charts, hitting number one in the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Top Singles Chart on 17 January 1976, knocking the

Bay City Rollers The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop rock band known for their worldwide teen idol popularity, as a band in the 1970s. One of many 70s acts heralded as the "biggest group since the Beatles", they were called the "tartan teen sensations fro ...

' " Saturday Night" from the top slot, managing to keep it for a single week before being replaced by C. W. McCall's "

Convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

" a week later. As of February 1976, the single sold 1.5 million copies in the United States.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Uses

The song appeared in the 1997 drama film ''Boogie Nights''. The song is used in

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing in First-run syndicati ...

Season 4, Episode 21 “''Nancy Boys''” at the roller rink scene. In April 2016, students and teachers from Methodist College, a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

secondary school, produced an educational "campus television" video by introducing four geometry methods in determining the congruence of triangles (SAS, SSS, ASA, AAS; Side-Angle-Side, Side-Side-Side, Angle-Side-Angle, Angle-Angle-Side), through a song playfully naming "RHS" (Right-angle-Hypotenuse-Side, the fifth evidence for proving congruent triangles) which lines to the tune of "Fly, Robin, Fly". Resembling the members of the band, choreographed arm and legs movements are also featured by the Hong Kong students, in order to introduce the mathematical concepts together with the lyrics ("Side angle side, side side side, angle side angle, angle angle side."). The clip has become a

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

which garnered over 800,000 views and over 50,000 "likes" on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

within a week, becoming one of the temporary hot topics in Hong Kong during late April, with various online

parodies A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satirical or ironic imitation. Often its subject is an original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, etc), but a parody can als ...

and social provoked.

References

External links

* by Apartment20, featuring Ramona Wulf * {{authority control 1975 songs 1975 singles Silver Convention songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs with lyrics by Michael Kunze Songs with music by Sylvester Levay Songs about birds