Barry Manilow’s Last Top 40 Hit Teamed Him With a Red-Hot Writer and Producer

Barry Manilow rose from behind the scenes to become one of the 70s most reliable hitmakers. He even extended his chart success into the 80s for a little while, at least until the MTV era truly took hold.

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Manilow’s last US Top 40 hit surfaced in 1983. And it found him teaming up with a writer/producer who was in the middle of an incredible year to do it.

Oh, Manilow

Barry Manilow spent the early part of his music career doing all the grunt work so that other artists could sound great. He played piano on sessions, arranged songs, and produced others, including Bette Midler. Manilow also made a pretty penny writing and performing commercial jingles.

He finally got his chance as a solo artist with a self-titled album in 1973. When that LP did little, famed music exec Clive Davis, who inherited Manilow as an artist due to a record company merger, stepped into the fray. Davis insisted that Manilow record the song “Mandy”, despite the artist’s objections.

“Mandy” hit No. 1 in 1974, setting in motion Barry Manilow’s stretch of chart dominance. Even though he was accomplished as a writer, many of his biggest hits were composed by others. (For example, Manilow may have belted out “I Write The Songs”, but Beach Boy Bruce Johnston actually composed it.)

Steinman Enters the Picture

Songs like “I Made It Through The Rain” and “The Old Songs” kept the Barry Manilow machine extremely viable on the pop charts even as the 70s became the 80s. In 1983, he released his second volume of Greatest Hits and needed a few new tracks to fill out the running order. That’s when he came into the orbit of Jim Steinman.

At the time, Steinman was in the middle of one of the most incredible stretches ever for a non-artist. Earlier in 1983, “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”, recorded by Bonnie Tyler, and “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All”, recorded by Air Supply, stood briefly at No. 1 and 2, respectively, on the pop charts. Steinman wrote and produced both of those tracks.

Those previous songs were both leftovers in a way, written for previous projects in which Steinman had been involved. When Manilow came calling, looking for a track, Steinman repurposed one that had been recorded by Meat Loaf, Steinman’s most regular collaborator, only a few years earlier. The song was called “Read ‘Em And Weep”.

“Weep”-ing to Ecstasy

“Read ‘Em And Weep” carries many of the characteristics associated with Steinman’s work. There’s a title where he borrows a well-known phrase and twists its meaning ever so slightly. You’ll also find his signature, ornate lyrics, replete with bold metaphors. “We started out with a bang and at the top of the world,” Barry Manilow belts. “Now the guns are exhausted and the bullets are blanks.”

Interestingly enough, the record bugged both main participants. Manilow struggled with the fact that he hadn’t produced the track, which left him feeling a bit alien to it. Steinman simply wasn’t crazy about Manilow’s interpretation.

Nonetheless, the public didn’t have nearly as many qualms about “Read ‘Em And Weep”. The collaboration between the two titans ended up at No. 18 in early 1984. And Barry Manilow would never again get to the Top 40 with one of his singles.

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