Barry manilow dog

Whether you belted it out with pride when it came on the radio or quickly changed the station on your FM dial, Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” was everywhere back in 1975. Considered to be the hit that propelled Manilow to superstardom, the song reached #1 on the Billboard charts 50 years ago today, on Jan.

18, 1975 … but did you know that he didn’t write it? Read on and learn everything you ever wanted to know (and more!) about the song.

One word of caution: You will have “Mandy” stuck in your head all day after reading this.

1Manilow’s song was actually a cover version

4Mandy was never man’s best friend

One of pop music’s most enduring urban myths is that “Mandy” was written about a dog.

On the contrary, English confessed in an interview that he told a reporter this tall tale to get him off the phone  — the reporter had called him very early in the morning, and he was irate after being woken up early. “Brandy” was actually lyrically inspired by some memories from English’s own