I Spent My High School Years with Barry Manilow

Speaking of singers that you couldn't avoid hearing during the 1970s, I spent my entire high school career running in the other direction while Barry Manilow's syrupy love! love! love! love! crooning spewed forth from a transistor radio or car radio, or over the p.a. at school, or at a record store, or on tv... but there was no escape.

Ninth Grade:
"Mandy": I remember all my life, raining down as cold as ice, sending Mandy away.
Well, he got that right -- all my life, I've remembered that song, no matter how much I don't want to.

"It's a Miracle": It's a miracle, a true-blue spectacle, that he is in love.
At least he's over Mandy.

"Could it be Magic": baby take me, high upon a hillside, high up where the stallion meets the sun...come, come, come into my... 
This is the first song I heard that I knew was about having sex, although I wouldn't be asking anyone to come, come, come for a few years.


Tenth Grade:
"I Write the Songs": I write the songs that make the young girl cry...I am music, and I write the songs...
Rather full of himself, isn't he?

"Trying to Get That Feeling Again": he sees a doctor to get a pill, because he's gone up, down,all around,  trying to get that feeling again. 
Don't worry, Barry, many men have problems going...um...up and down.

"This One's for You": This one will never sell, they'll never understand, I don't even sing it well.
He's got that right.




Eleventh Grade:
"Weekend in New England."Last night I waved goodbye, now it seems years -- I'm back in the city, where nothing is clear.  
I'd rather be in the city than stuck in a small factory town in the Midwest.

"Looks Like We Made It": Do you love him as much as I love her, and will that love be strong when the old feelings stir?  
What they've made is a successful breakup, but then the old feelings come back.  Mandy, again?




Twelfth Grade: 
"Daybreak"It's daybreak if you want to believe, it's daybreak, no time to grieve. 
Repeat 38 times. Don't try to figure out what it means.

"Can't Smile without You": can't laugh, can't sing, finding it hard to do anything.  
I'd rather concentrate on my upcoming graduation and college plans, thanks.

"Even Now": Even now I think about you when I'm climbing the stairs, and I wonder what to do so she won't see.  
You still thinking about Mandy?  It's been four years!



"Copacabana": this one has a plot, about a showgirl with two boyfriends who shoot each other, so she goes crazy, and continues to come to the Copa, even though thirty years have passed and it's now a disco.  Sort of a Miss Haversham thing.  Cool.

When I was in college, his new songs started moving down the Top 40 charts.






Freshman:
"Somewhere in the Night": You're my song, music too magic to end.  
Wait, I thought Barry was music, and wrote the songs?

"Ships": We're just out of sight, like two ships that pass in the night. 
He's saying this to his father as they walk along the beach?

Sophomore:
"I Don't Want to Walk Without You."
We already know that without you he can't smile, laugh, or sing, so walking is a logical extension.

"Bermuda Triangle." It's a region where planes disappear and weird things happen.  So Barry sings about losing his girlfriend in the Bermuda Triangle, except he means she got stolen away by another guy.



Junior:

"I Made it through the Rain."And I found myself respected by others who -- got rained on, too.  
At Augustana, we didn't say "I got rained on." We had an earthier expression.

I don't remember hearing any more Barry Manilow songs after that, but apparently he's been releasing an album every couple of years: Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits of All Time, A Swinging Christmas, Barry Manilow Sings Sinatra, Night Songs, Duets, The Essential Barry Manilow.  And performing live.  And not using the word "gay."




Oh, didn't I mention it?  He sang about ladies, but he never was seen on the arm of a lady. Everyone assumed that he was gay, but he never said anything, for fear that his fans were homophobic.

According to People magazine, in 2014 he married his manager, Garry Keif (not pictured; this is just a random muscle hunk walking along the beach with him).

See also 12 Songs I Hated.