An anniversary tribute in the Barry Manilow Facebook fan group puts the spotlight on a beloved ballad—and the songwriter who created it.
Randy Edelman’s “Weekend in New England” is receiving a golden anniversary salute from Barry Manilow fans. A post in the Barry Manilow Facebook group selected the classic as its “Manilow Song of the Day,” celebrating 50 years since the release of Manilow’s hit recording.
The tribute revisits the song’s history, its recordings through the decades and the personal recollections of both Edelman and Manilow. For fans, it’s a chance to celebrate a favorite. For Edelman, it marks the enduring life of a song that began at a piano in his childhood home.
Before “Weekend in New England” became a Manilow classic, its melody took shape beneath Edelman’s fingers on an old Steinway upright in New Jersey. He wrote the lyrics aboard a plane and originally recorded the composition himself as “A Weekend in New England.”
The Facebook tribute traces the next chapter through Edelman’s recollections from Manilow’s 1992 box set, The Complete Collection and Then Some. Music executive Clive Davis heard the song and approached Edelman about changes before submitting it to Manilow. Edelman revised the composition, and Manilow brought his own arrangement and interpretation to the recording.
The result appeared on Manilow’s 1976 album This One’s for You. Released as a single that November, “Weekend in New England” reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Its emotional pull remains easy to understand. Edelman captured the feeling of returning from an unforgettable encounter and finding that everyday life suddenly seems incomplete. The song turns distance, memory and romantic anticipation into something listeners can recognize as their own.
Manilow’s performance gives that longing its dramatic force. Edelman’s melody and lyrics give it somewhere to begin—and somewhere to go.
The Facebook “Song of the Day” post also shares Manilow’s recollection of his surprise at the recording’s success. A delicate ballad written in waltz time was hardly an obvious radio hit amid the dance records and novelty songs of 1976. Yet its connection with listeners helped renew his faith in quality songwriting.
For Edelman, hearing Manilow’s finished recording was the realization of a songwriter’s hope: that a personal creation might travel beyond its origins and become meaningful to generations of strangers.
Five decades later, that dream continues. Fans are still listening, sharing performances and telling one another what the song means to them. Its selection as “Manilow Song of the Day” offers a small but telling example of how a recording stays alive through the people who love it.
This golden anniversary belongs to Manilow’s unforgettable interpretation and to Randy Edelman’s songwriting—the creative spark behind a ballad that still makes listeners remember, hope and feel.
Read the Facebook tribute: Barry Manilow “Song of the Day” https://www.facebook.com/groups/barrymanilowofficial/posts/1605081024280839/
Watch and listen: “Weekend in New England” on YouTube https://youtu.be/X1QuYT311i8
