Peak
1
Weeks
20
Score
3,748
Chart Year
1977
The composer Bill Conti wrote an instrumental for the training montage in the first Rocky movie. He played it to his collaborators Carol Conners and Ayn Robbins at Carol's house. A few days later, Carol was taking a shower when the words "Gonna fly now..." came into her head. She called Bill from the shower and said she knew what the words should be. The completed song with full lyrics was submitted for the film, but the version heard in the final cut contains only 30 words. Parts of the scene where Rocky runs up the museum steps in training are played backwards. Originally the shot zoomed out but it was reversed to zooming in to better match the musical score and for dramatic effect. On the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending May 21, 1977, this song leapt from #21 to #7. Then, it moved up one position each week for the next six until it finally displaced Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" from the top spot on the July 2nd 1977. This is possibly the only song to climb on consecutive weeks 7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Carol Conners (real name Annette Kleinbard) was the lead singer for The Teddy Bears, who had a major hit with "To Know Him Is To Love Him." That song was written by Phil Spector specifically to showcase Connors' singing voice. >> This song was a perfect fit for the movie and for the Rocky character - an underdog who fought beyond his abilities through rugged determination. It was used as the primary theme in the first two Rocky movies, but for Rocky III, Sylvester Stallone wanted something different that would appeal to a younger audience. He found it in "Eye Of The Tiger." Four different versions of this song made the Hot 100 in 1977. In June, a version by the jazz musician Maynard Ferguson peaked at #28 a week before Conti's hit the top spot. The first version to chart was by Rhythm Heritage, a studio act that specialized in covers of theme songs - they had a #1 with "Theme From S.W.A.T." in 1976. They took it to #94 in March that year. The other version to chart was by Current, which was also a studio act led by producer Joe Saraceno. This version also made #94, this time in May.
Trying hard now It's so hard now Trying hard now Gettin' strong now Coming on, now Gettin' strong now Gonna fly now Flyin' high now Gonna fly, fly, fly
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 23, 1977 | 84 | 42 |
| 2 | Apr 30, 1977 | 58 | 68 |
| 3 | May 7, 1977 | 29 | 97 |
| 4 | May 14, 1977 | 21 | 105 |
| 5 | May 21, 1977 | 7 | 119 |
| 6 | May 28, 1977 | 6 | 120 |
| 7 | Jun 4, 1977 | 5 | 121 |
| 8 | Jun 11, 1977 | 4 | 122 |
| 9 | Jun 18, 1977 | 3 | 123 |
| 10 | Jun 25, 1977 | 2 | 124 |
| 11 | Jul 2, 1977 | 1 | 125 |
| 12 | Jul 9, 1977 | 4 | 122 |
| 13 | Jul 16, 1977 | 11 | 115 |
| 14 | Jul 23, 1977 | 19 | 107 |
| 15 | Jul 30, 1977 | 28 | 98 |
| 16 | Aug 6, 1977 | 47 | 79 |
| 17 | Aug 13, 1977 | 46 | 80 |
| 18 | Aug 20, 1977 | 54 | 72 |
| 19 | Aug 27, 1977 | 63 | 63 |
| 20 | Sep 3, 1977 | 79 | 47 |