‘Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)’ is a 1972 song by American pop rock band Looking Glass from their debut album, Looking Glass. It was written by Looking Glass lead guitarist and co-vocalist Elliot Lurie. The single reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 charts.
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.
In February 1972, Robert Mandel, the Epic Records Promotion Manager in Washington, D.C. took a test pressing of an album by Looking Glass, then a new group, 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." 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; however, Manilow changed the title following the success of the Looking Glass single, so as not to get the two songs confused.
Label – Epic
Songwriter – Elliot Lurie
Producers – Mike Gershman, Bob Liftin and the Looking Glass
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]There's a port on a western bay
And it serves a hundred ships a day
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes
And there's a girl in this harbor town
And she works layin' whiskey down
They say, "Brandy, fetch another round"
She serves them whiskey and wine
[Chorus]
The sailors say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl" (You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be (Such a fine girl)
Yeah, your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea
[Verse 2]
Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the north of Spain
A locket that bears the name
Of a man that Brandy loved
He came on a summer's day
Bringin' gifts from far away
But he made it clear he couldn't stay
No harbor was his home
[Chorus]
The sailor said, "Brandy, you're a fine girl" (You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be (Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love, and my lady is the sea
[Bridge]
Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes when he told his sailor's story
She could feel the ocean fall and rise, she saw its raging glory
But he had always told the truth, Lord, he was an honest man
And Brandy does her best to understand
[Verse 3]
At night when the bars close down
Brandy walks through a silent town
And loves a man who's not around
She still can hear him say
[Chours]
She hears him say, "Brandy, you're a fine girl" (You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be (Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love, and my lady is the sea
It is, it is, yes, it is, it is
"Brandy, you're a fine girl" (You're a fine girl)
What a good wife you would be (Such a fine girl)
But my life, my love, and my lady is the sea
It is, it is, yes, it is, it is