Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)

"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" is a 1972 song by the American pop rock band Looking Glass, from their debut album, Looking Glass. It was written by Looking Glass lead guitarist and co-vocalist Elliot Lurie.

"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
Single by Looking Glass
from the album Looking Glass
B-side"One by One"
ReleasedMay 18, 1972
Recorded1972
GenreSoft rock[1]
Length2:55 (Single remix/edit)
3:10 (Album mix version)
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)Elliot Lurie
Producer(s)Mike Gershman, Bob Liftin and the Looking Glass
Looking Glass singles chronology
"Golden Rainbow"
(1972)
"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
(1972)
"Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne"
(1973)

The single reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts, remaining in the top position for one week. It reached number two on the former chart for four weeks, stuck behind Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again (Naturally)", before reaching number one, only to be dethroned by "Alone Again (Naturally)" the week after. Billboard ranked it as the 12th song of 1972.

Meaning

The lyrics tell of Brandy, a barmaid in a busy seaport harbor town which serves "a hundred ships a day." Though lonely sailors flirt with her, she pines for one who has long since left her because he claimed his life, his love, and his lady, was “the sea.”

The urban myth that Brandy was based on Mary Ellis (1750–1828), a spinster in New Brunswick, New Jersey,[2] has been refuted by Lurie himself.[3]

Release

In February 1972, Robert Mandel was the Epic Records Promotion Manager in Washington, D.C. He received a test pressing of an album by Looking Glass, then a new group. He took the test pressing around to every radio station in the Washington/Baltimore region. At the time, WPGC AM/FM was one of the leading Top 40 stations in the country and was the number one radio station in DC. Harv Moore was the Program Director. He put the song into a one-hour rotation for two days and as Moore related at the time, "the switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree". He said that he had never received a response like that on a record in his 15 years in radio. Based on the airplay at WPGC and all the other Top 40 stations that followed, Epic rush-released the single of "Brandy". Based on requests alone, two weeks later, when the single finally hit the stores, "Brandy" was the number one record in DC without a single copy yet sold. Other stations around the country started playing it and it ended up being a number one million seller. A year later when Moore celebrated his 10th Anniversary at WPGC, Looking Glass returned the favor and played at the bash the station held in his honor.

Influence

Following the song's release in 1972, "Brandy" increased in popularity as a girl's name in the United States. According to data from the Social Security Administration,[4] Brandy was the 353rd most popular name in 1971, 140th in 1972, and, in 1973 (the first full year after the song's popularity), 82nd.

Barry Manilow's 1974 "Mandy" was a cover of a song originally titled "Brandy", released in February 1972 by Scott English; however, Manilow changed the title following the success of the Looking Glass single, so as not to get the two songs confused.[5]

Paul Stanley of the rock band KISS wrote that "Brandy" helped inspire the band's 1976 hit "Hard Luck Woman" in his 2014 memoir Face the Music: A Life Exposed.

The 2005 song "Same Old 45" by Sarah Borges, from the album Silver City, retells the story of Brandy from her point of view.

Cover versions

  • Ray Conniff and His Singers covered the song on the 1972 album Alone Again (Naturally).
  • Washboard Jungle often performs this song as an encore, and recorded it on their 1994 album The Wash Cycle. They play it considerably faster than the original.
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a cover version of the song on their Red Hot Chili Peppers Live in Hyde Park album and during their 2004 tour. They again performed it in May 2017 for the first time in twelve years.
  • Kenny Chesney performed a cover version for the Target Bonus Tracks on his 2005 album The Road and the Radio.
  • Gonzalez performed a cover of this song released as a single on the EMI label. [7]
  • Raymond Coats (West Coast Groove Band) performs a cover to be released as a single through CDBaby in February 2020.

Personnel

  • Elliot Lurie—Guitars, vocals
  • Larry Gonsky—Keyboards, vocals - Following the break-up of Looking Glass, Gonsky was hired as a middle-school music teacher by the Morris School district in Morristown, N.J.
  • Peter Sweval—Bass, vocals, cowbell
  • Jeff Grob—Drum kit
  • Larry Fallon—Horns arrangements

Chart performance

References

  1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (April 28, 1998). "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) [Sony] - Looking Glass | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  2. "Mary Ellis Grave". weirdnj.com. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  3. "The urban legends of 'Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)'". tennessean.com.
  4. "Popular Baby Names". Ssa.gov. August 26, 2009. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  5. Huey, Steve. "Mandy". Allmusic. Retrieved June 25, 2009.
  6. Alvarez, Rafael (2004). The Wire:Truth Be Told. Pocket Books. p. 240. ISBN 9781439184523.
  7. "Gonzalez - Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) / White Lightning". Discogs.com. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  8. Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  9. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  10. "flavour of new zealand - search listener". www.flavourofnz.co.nz.
  11. SA Charts 1965 - 1989. Songs A-B. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  12. Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 143.
  13. CASH BOX Top 100 Singles 2 September 1972. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 14, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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