I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow - Ray Stevens (1979) 2/11/23

Before I get into today's "Great Song of 1979," I'd like to give a shout out to a former colleague of mine, Rob Durkee. Rob (aka Robin Scott) and I worked together at WAYY in Eau Claire back in the mid-80s. Later on, he worked for American Top 40, and now works at a radio/music research company called Media Base.

He also writes a blog called "Today in Pop Music History," and last week, he highlighted the song I had already scheduled for this week.

Call it a coincidence...or an example of 'hive mind," but either way, we both agree that this is one of the best parody songs ever released.

Before Weird Al came along, the master of novelty songs was Ray Stevens. Songs like "Guitarzan" and "The Streak" were two of Ray's best...but in 1979, he took a parody written by someone else (Dale Gonyea) to #11 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart!

At this point in time, Barry Manilow was a superstar, scoring Great Song after Great Song. For the most part, Barry's heavily orchestrated productions were schmaltzy, but also catchy and romantic.

Ray's recording of "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" took all of Barry's vocal and production techniques and threw them in a blender. The end result: The perfect Barry Manilow parody ...from a man who sounded like Barry Himself!

It's an amazing show of Ray's talent and versatility. Granted, it's not the Greatest Song you've ever heard...but its darn near a perfect parody!

And by all accounts, Barry thought it was pretty funny.

"I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow" by Ray Stevens: A "Great Parody of 1979! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xU7MpvINUQ