Chords for The Story Behind Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)
Tempo:
129.8 bpm
Chords used:
F#m
B
F#
G#
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[F#m] [N]
Looking Glass started as a bar band in New Jersey, formed in 1969 by three Rutgers University classmates and a drummer who lived nearby.
After graduation, they told their parents they were going to take a year to see if they could make it as musicians.
They rented an old farmhouse owned by Harry Chapin's aunt and rehearsed during the week and played small clubs along the East Coast on the weekend.
The band caught the attention of legendary Columbia Records president Clive Davis, who signed Looking Glass to Epic, his label for new artists.
In 1971, the group began work on their debut self-titled album.
Guitarist Elliot Lurie and bassist Peter Swevel split the songwriting and vocals on the album, each contributing four tracks.
One of the songs Lurie had written was inspired by his high school girlfriend, Randy Jensen.
Lurie began the songwriting process strumming the guitar, playing a chord sequence and melody, and then adding a few lines and a verse, creating a story of a barmaid in a seaport town.
Lurie thought Randy would be an unusual name for the barmaid, so he changed it to Brandy.
It took him about a week or two to finish the song.
Recording the song Brandy proved a little more difficult.
The band recorded two different versions of it with two separate producers.
The first version sounded flat and lifeless.
The second version was more heavily produced, with ship's bells in the background.
The band didn't care for this version either, feeling it was too bubblegum.
Looking Glass decided to produce the song themselves, with the assistance of Bob Lifton, owner of New York's Regent Sound Studios.
They used a rhythm track from the second version, and hummed the melody rather than using a horn section.
Elliot Lurie's vocals were very distinctive, too.
He tried to hide his heavy Brooklyn accent, and the result made it hard to tell where the singer was from, or even if he was white or black, according to Lurie.
Neither the band nor the label felt confident that Brandy was going to be a hit.
In early 1972, Epic released another Looking Glass song, Don't It Make You Feel Good, as a single, with Brandy, your fine girl, on the B-side.
Don't It Make You Feel Good did nothing at all.
But Epic had a strong promotions man named Robert Mandel, who brought test pressings of the Looking Glass album to every radio station in the Washington, D.C.,. Baltimore area. Harv Moore was the program director at WPGC-AMFM, one of the leading Top 40 stations in the country, and number one in the D.C. market. Moore got the song from Mandel, liked it, and put it into a one-hour rotation for two days. Moore said the station's switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. He had never seen that kind of response to a song in his 15 years in radio. Other Top 40 stations around the country started playing the song, and Epic rush-released the single of Brandy on May 18, 1972. Brandy reached the Billboard Top 100 chart on June 17, 1972, at number 68. It spent four weeks at number two behind Gilbert O'Sullivan's massive hit Alone Again, Naturally. Finally, on August 26, 1972, Brandy became the number one song in America. It stayed at number one for only one week, getting knocked down to number four a week later. Based on the success of Brandy, Looking Glass toured the country with the likes of Jeff Beck and Steely Dan. But fans apparently weren't quite sure what to make of the band. Their debut album only charted at number 113 on the Top 200 Albums chart in 1972. Despite the pop sound of Brandy, the rest of their songs were rock-oriented. The band itself also looked like a rock band with their long hair. Laurie reflected later that the band had a disparate sound. Songs on the album didn't sound like they were from the same band, leaving fans to wonder if Looking Glass was a pop or rock band. In 1973, Looking Glass released another single, Jimmy Loves Mary Ann, and that reached a respectable number 33 on the Top 100 chart. But Elliott Laurie decided to leave the band in 1974 and concentrate on a solo career, releasing a self-titled album in 1975 and a single called Disco, Where You Gonna Go? on Epic. Neither reached the Billboard charts. The other members of Looking Glass recruited a new lead singer, Michael Lee Smith. That version of the band only lasted about a year. They changed their name to Fallen Angels in 1974, then shuffled the lineup and became Stars, managed by Bill O'Coin of Kiss fame, and released four albums on Capitol as a hard rock band. Elliott Laurie later had a successful career as the head of the music department at 20th Century Fox, working on numerous hit movies. Today, he still enjoys playing music and maintains a website and YouTube channel where he interacts with many of his fans. Keyboardist Larry Gonski is a choral director at a middle school in New Jersey. Drummer Jeff Grobe is also living in New Jersey, working as a landscape architect. Bassist Peter Sweevil died in 1990. The song Brandy has been impacting our culture since its release 50 years ago. Barry Manilow's breakthrough 1974 hit, Mandy, was a cover of a British pop song also named Brandy. Once Looking Glass hit number one, Manilow had to change the title of his song so as not to get the two of them confused. The song also influenced the girl's name Brandy, turning it from the 353rd most popular name in 1971 to the 140th in 1972 and the 82nd most popular name in 1973. And more recently, the song has appeared prominently in a number of popular films and TV shows. Most notably in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Kurt Russell proclaims the song One of Earth's greatest musical compositions, perhaps the greatest. Sadly, the success of the song did not result in riches for the band. As the song's writer, Elliot Lurie received royalties for airplay and publishing. The other members of the band did not start getting any money until 1999 due to a recoupment clause in their contract that allowed the record company to take all profits until the band paid the label back for recording. Please share your thoughts [B] and memories about Brandy in the comments below. Thanks for watching! [F#] [G#] [N]
Looking Glass started as a bar band in New Jersey, formed in 1969 by three Rutgers University classmates and a drummer who lived nearby.
After graduation, they told their parents they were going to take a year to see if they could make it as musicians.
They rented an old farmhouse owned by Harry Chapin's aunt and rehearsed during the week and played small clubs along the East Coast on the weekend.
The band caught the attention of legendary Columbia Records president Clive Davis, who signed Looking Glass to Epic, his label for new artists.
In 1971, the group began work on their debut self-titled album.
Guitarist Elliot Lurie and bassist Peter Swevel split the songwriting and vocals on the album, each contributing four tracks.
One of the songs Lurie had written was inspired by his high school girlfriend, Randy Jensen.
Lurie began the songwriting process strumming the guitar, playing a chord sequence and melody, and then adding a few lines and a verse, creating a story of a barmaid in a seaport town.
Lurie thought Randy would be an unusual name for the barmaid, so he changed it to Brandy.
It took him about a week or two to finish the song.
Recording the song Brandy proved a little more difficult.
The band recorded two different versions of it with two separate producers.
The first version sounded flat and lifeless.
The second version was more heavily produced, with ship's bells in the background.
The band didn't care for this version either, feeling it was too bubblegum.
Looking Glass decided to produce the song themselves, with the assistance of Bob Lifton, owner of New York's Regent Sound Studios.
They used a rhythm track from the second version, and hummed the melody rather than using a horn section.
Elliot Lurie's vocals were very distinctive, too.
He tried to hide his heavy Brooklyn accent, and the result made it hard to tell where the singer was from, or even if he was white or black, according to Lurie.
Neither the band nor the label felt confident that Brandy was going to be a hit.
In early 1972, Epic released another Looking Glass song, Don't It Make You Feel Good, as a single, with Brandy, your fine girl, on the B-side.
Don't It Make You Feel Good did nothing at all.
But Epic had a strong promotions man named Robert Mandel, who brought test pressings of the Looking Glass album to every radio station in the Washington, D.C.,. Baltimore area. Harv Moore was the program director at WPGC-AMFM, one of the leading Top 40 stations in the country, and number one in the D.C. market. Moore got the song from Mandel, liked it, and put it into a one-hour rotation for two days. Moore said the station's switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. He had never seen that kind of response to a song in his 15 years in radio. Other Top 40 stations around the country started playing the song, and Epic rush-released the single of Brandy on May 18, 1972. Brandy reached the Billboard Top 100 chart on June 17, 1972, at number 68. It spent four weeks at number two behind Gilbert O'Sullivan's massive hit Alone Again, Naturally. Finally, on August 26, 1972, Brandy became the number one song in America. It stayed at number one for only one week, getting knocked down to number four a week later. Based on the success of Brandy, Looking Glass toured the country with the likes of Jeff Beck and Steely Dan. But fans apparently weren't quite sure what to make of the band. Their debut album only charted at number 113 on the Top 200 Albums chart in 1972. Despite the pop sound of Brandy, the rest of their songs were rock-oriented. The band itself also looked like a rock band with their long hair. Laurie reflected later that the band had a disparate sound. Songs on the album didn't sound like they were from the same band, leaving fans to wonder if Looking Glass was a pop or rock band. In 1973, Looking Glass released another single, Jimmy Loves Mary Ann, and that reached a respectable number 33 on the Top 100 chart. But Elliott Laurie decided to leave the band in 1974 and concentrate on a solo career, releasing a self-titled album in 1975 and a single called Disco, Where You Gonna Go? on Epic. Neither reached the Billboard charts. The other members of Looking Glass recruited a new lead singer, Michael Lee Smith. That version of the band only lasted about a year. They changed their name to Fallen Angels in 1974, then shuffled the lineup and became Stars, managed by Bill O'Coin of Kiss fame, and released four albums on Capitol as a hard rock band. Elliott Laurie later had a successful career as the head of the music department at 20th Century Fox, working on numerous hit movies. Today, he still enjoys playing music and maintains a website and YouTube channel where he interacts with many of his fans. Keyboardist Larry Gonski is a choral director at a middle school in New Jersey. Drummer Jeff Grobe is also living in New Jersey, working as a landscape architect. Bassist Peter Sweevil died in 1990. The song Brandy has been impacting our culture since its release 50 years ago. Barry Manilow's breakthrough 1974 hit, Mandy, was a cover of a British pop song also named Brandy. Once Looking Glass hit number one, Manilow had to change the title of his song so as not to get the two of them confused. The song also influenced the girl's name Brandy, turning it from the 353rd most popular name in 1971 to the 140th in 1972 and the 82nd most popular name in 1973. And more recently, the song has appeared prominently in a number of popular films and TV shows. Most notably in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Kurt Russell proclaims the song One of Earth's greatest musical compositions, perhaps the greatest. Sadly, the success of the song did not result in riches for the band. As the song's writer, Elliot Lurie received royalties for airplay and publishing. The other members of the band did not start getting any money until 1999 due to a recoupment clause in their contract that allowed the record company to take all profits until the band paid the label back for recording. Please share your thoughts [B] and memories about Brandy in the comments below. Thanks for watching! [F#] [G#] [N]
Key:
F#m
B
F#
G#
F#m
B
F#
G#
_ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ [N] _
Looking Glass started as a bar band in New Jersey, formed in 1969 by three Rutgers University classmates and a drummer who lived nearby.
_ After graduation, they told their parents they were going to take a year to see if they could make it as musicians.
They rented an old farmhouse owned by Harry Chapin's aunt and rehearsed during the week and played small clubs along the East Coast on the weekend.
The band caught the attention of legendary Columbia Records president Clive Davis, who signed Looking Glass to Epic, his label for new artists.
In 1971, the group began work on their debut self-titled album.
_ Guitarist Elliot Lurie and bassist Peter Swevel split the songwriting and vocals on the album, each contributing four tracks.
_ _ One of the songs Lurie had written was inspired by his high school girlfriend, Randy Jensen.
_ Lurie began the songwriting process strumming the guitar, playing a chord sequence and melody, and then adding a few lines and a verse, creating a story of a barmaid in a seaport town.
Lurie thought Randy would be an unusual name for the barmaid, so he changed it to Brandy.
It took him about a week or two to finish the song.
_ _ _ Recording the song Brandy proved a little more difficult.
The band recorded two different versions of it with two separate producers.
_ The first version sounded flat and lifeless.
The second version was more heavily produced, with ship's bells in the background.
_ The band didn't care for this version either, feeling it was too bubblegum.
_ Looking Glass decided to produce the song themselves, with the assistance of Bob Lifton, owner of New York's Regent Sound Studios.
_ They used a rhythm track from the second version, and hummed the melody rather than using a horn section.
_ Elliot Lurie's vocals were very distinctive, too.
He tried to hide his heavy Brooklyn accent, and the result made it hard to tell where the singer was from, or even if he was white or black, according to Lurie.
_ Neither the band nor the label felt confident that Brandy was going to be a hit.
In early 1972, Epic released another Looking Glass song, Don't It Make You Feel Good, as a single, with Brandy, your fine girl, on the B-side.
_ Don't It Make You Feel Good did nothing at all.
But Epic had a strong promotions man named Robert Mandel, who brought test pressings of the Looking Glass album to every radio station in the Washington, D.C.,. Baltimore area. _ _ Harv Moore was the program director at _ WPGC-AMFM, one of the leading Top 40 stations in the country, and number one in the D.C. market. Moore got the song from Mandel, liked it, and put it into a one-hour rotation for two days. Moore said the station's switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. He had never seen that kind of response to a song in his 15 years in radio. Other Top 40 stations around the country started playing the song, and Epic rush-released the single of Brandy on May 18, 1972. _ _ Brandy reached the Billboard Top 100 chart on June 17, 1972, at number 68. _ It spent four weeks at number two behind Gilbert O'Sullivan's massive hit Alone Again, Naturally. _ Finally, on August 26, 1972, Brandy became the number one song in America. It stayed at number one for only one week, getting knocked down to number four a week later. _ _ _ Based on the success of Brandy, Looking Glass toured the country with the likes of Jeff Beck and Steely Dan. _ _ But fans apparently weren't quite sure what to make of the band. Their debut album only charted at number 113 on the Top 200 Albums chart in 1972. _ Despite the pop sound of Brandy, the rest of their songs were rock-oriented. The band itself also looked like a rock band with their long hair. _ Laurie reflected later that the band had a disparate sound. Songs on the album didn't sound like they were from the same band, leaving fans to wonder if Looking Glass was a pop or rock band. _ _ In 1973, Looking Glass released another single, Jimmy Loves Mary Ann, and that reached a respectable number 33 on the Top 100 chart. _ But Elliott Laurie decided to leave the band in 1974 and concentrate on a solo career, _ releasing a self-titled album in 1975 and a single called Disco, Where You Gonna Go? on Epic. Neither reached the Billboard charts. _ The other members of Looking Glass recruited a new lead singer, Michael Lee Smith. That version of the band only lasted about a year. They changed their name to Fallen Angels in 1974, then shuffled the lineup and became Stars, managed by Bill O'Coin of Kiss fame, and released four albums on Capitol as a hard rock band. _ Elliott Laurie later had a successful career as the head of the music department at 20th Century Fox, working on numerous hit movies. _ Today, he still enjoys playing music and maintains a website and YouTube channel where he interacts with many of his fans. _ _ _ Keyboardist Larry Gonski is a choral director at a middle school in New Jersey. Drummer Jeff Grobe is also living in New Jersey, working as a landscape architect. _ Bassist Peter Sweevil died in 1990. _ _ The song Brandy has been impacting our culture since its release 50 years ago. Barry Manilow's breakthrough 1974 hit, Mandy, was a cover of a British pop song also named Brandy. Once Looking Glass hit number one, Manilow had to change the title of his song so as not to get the two of them confused. The song also influenced the girl's name Brandy, turning it from the _ 353rd most popular name in 1971 _ to the 140th in 1972 and the 82nd most popular name in 1973. _ _ And more recently, the song has appeared prominently in a number of popular films and TV shows. Most notably in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Kurt Russell proclaims the song One of Earth's greatest musical compositions, perhaps the greatest. _ _ _ Sadly, the success of the song did not result in riches for the band. As the song's writer, Elliot Lurie received royalties for airplay and publishing. The other members of the band did not start getting any money until 1999 due to a recoupment clause in their contract that allowed the record company to take all profits until the band paid the label back for recording. _ _ _ Please share your thoughts [B] and memories about Brandy in the comments below. Thanks for watching! _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ _ [N] _ _
Looking Glass started as a bar band in New Jersey, formed in 1969 by three Rutgers University classmates and a drummer who lived nearby.
_ After graduation, they told their parents they were going to take a year to see if they could make it as musicians.
They rented an old farmhouse owned by Harry Chapin's aunt and rehearsed during the week and played small clubs along the East Coast on the weekend.
The band caught the attention of legendary Columbia Records president Clive Davis, who signed Looking Glass to Epic, his label for new artists.
In 1971, the group began work on their debut self-titled album.
_ Guitarist Elliot Lurie and bassist Peter Swevel split the songwriting and vocals on the album, each contributing four tracks.
_ _ One of the songs Lurie had written was inspired by his high school girlfriend, Randy Jensen.
_ Lurie began the songwriting process strumming the guitar, playing a chord sequence and melody, and then adding a few lines and a verse, creating a story of a barmaid in a seaport town.
Lurie thought Randy would be an unusual name for the barmaid, so he changed it to Brandy.
It took him about a week or two to finish the song.
_ _ _ Recording the song Brandy proved a little more difficult.
The band recorded two different versions of it with two separate producers.
_ The first version sounded flat and lifeless.
The second version was more heavily produced, with ship's bells in the background.
_ The band didn't care for this version either, feeling it was too bubblegum.
_ Looking Glass decided to produce the song themselves, with the assistance of Bob Lifton, owner of New York's Regent Sound Studios.
_ They used a rhythm track from the second version, and hummed the melody rather than using a horn section.
_ Elliot Lurie's vocals were very distinctive, too.
He tried to hide his heavy Brooklyn accent, and the result made it hard to tell where the singer was from, or even if he was white or black, according to Lurie.
_ Neither the band nor the label felt confident that Brandy was going to be a hit.
In early 1972, Epic released another Looking Glass song, Don't It Make You Feel Good, as a single, with Brandy, your fine girl, on the B-side.
_ Don't It Make You Feel Good did nothing at all.
But Epic had a strong promotions man named Robert Mandel, who brought test pressings of the Looking Glass album to every radio station in the Washington, D.C.,. Baltimore area. _ _ Harv Moore was the program director at _ WPGC-AMFM, one of the leading Top 40 stations in the country, and number one in the D.C. market. Moore got the song from Mandel, liked it, and put it into a one-hour rotation for two days. Moore said the station's switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. He had never seen that kind of response to a song in his 15 years in radio. Other Top 40 stations around the country started playing the song, and Epic rush-released the single of Brandy on May 18, 1972. _ _ Brandy reached the Billboard Top 100 chart on June 17, 1972, at number 68. _ It spent four weeks at number two behind Gilbert O'Sullivan's massive hit Alone Again, Naturally. _ Finally, on August 26, 1972, Brandy became the number one song in America. It stayed at number one for only one week, getting knocked down to number four a week later. _ _ _ Based on the success of Brandy, Looking Glass toured the country with the likes of Jeff Beck and Steely Dan. _ _ But fans apparently weren't quite sure what to make of the band. Their debut album only charted at number 113 on the Top 200 Albums chart in 1972. _ Despite the pop sound of Brandy, the rest of their songs were rock-oriented. The band itself also looked like a rock band with their long hair. _ Laurie reflected later that the band had a disparate sound. Songs on the album didn't sound like they were from the same band, leaving fans to wonder if Looking Glass was a pop or rock band. _ _ In 1973, Looking Glass released another single, Jimmy Loves Mary Ann, and that reached a respectable number 33 on the Top 100 chart. _ But Elliott Laurie decided to leave the band in 1974 and concentrate on a solo career, _ releasing a self-titled album in 1975 and a single called Disco, Where You Gonna Go? on Epic. Neither reached the Billboard charts. _ The other members of Looking Glass recruited a new lead singer, Michael Lee Smith. That version of the band only lasted about a year. They changed their name to Fallen Angels in 1974, then shuffled the lineup and became Stars, managed by Bill O'Coin of Kiss fame, and released four albums on Capitol as a hard rock band. _ Elliott Laurie later had a successful career as the head of the music department at 20th Century Fox, working on numerous hit movies. _ Today, he still enjoys playing music and maintains a website and YouTube channel where he interacts with many of his fans. _ _ _ Keyboardist Larry Gonski is a choral director at a middle school in New Jersey. Drummer Jeff Grobe is also living in New Jersey, working as a landscape architect. _ Bassist Peter Sweevil died in 1990. _ _ The song Brandy has been impacting our culture since its release 50 years ago. Barry Manilow's breakthrough 1974 hit, Mandy, was a cover of a British pop song also named Brandy. Once Looking Glass hit number one, Manilow had to change the title of his song so as not to get the two of them confused. The song also influenced the girl's name Brandy, turning it from the _ 353rd most popular name in 1971 _ to the 140th in 1972 and the 82nd most popular name in 1973. _ _ And more recently, the song has appeared prominently in a number of popular films and TV shows. Most notably in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where Kurt Russell proclaims the song One of Earth's greatest musical compositions, perhaps the greatest. _ _ _ Sadly, the success of the song did not result in riches for the band. As the song's writer, Elliot Lurie received royalties for airplay and publishing. The other members of the band did not start getting any money until 1999 due to a recoupment clause in their contract that allowed the record company to take all profits until the band paid the label back for recording. _ _ _ Please share your thoughts [B] and memories about Brandy in the comments below. Thanks for watching! _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G#] _ _ _ [N] _ _