Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)

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, has been refuted by Lurie himself.

Lurie was thrilled with the deeper meaning given to the song when its lyrics were used as a metaphor by a father explaining his life's choices to his son in the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which came out in 2017.

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.

Upon the release of the single, Record World called it "a tuneful, soulful effort deserving of heavy action."

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, 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, but Manilow changed the title following the success of the Looking Glass single, so that the two songs would not be confused.

Shlock Rock's 1999 album, Shlock Rock Meets the Prophets, includes the track "Naomi," which is a parody of the song.

The antagonist of the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 refers to the Looking Glass recording as "possibly Earth's greatest composition".

Personnel

Elliot Lurie — vocals, guitars

Larry Gonsky — keyboards, backing vocals

Peter Sweval — bass, backing vocals, cowbell

Jeff Grob — drums

Larry Fallon — horns arrangements