Best That You Can Do Arthur's Theme
Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) is a song performed and co-written by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross as the main theme for the 1981 film Arthur, starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli.
It was recognized as the year's Best Original Song at both the 54th Academy Awards and 39th Golden Globe Awards.
| "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" | ||||
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| Single by Christopher Cross | ||||
| from the album Arthur – The Album | ||||
| B-side | "Minstrel Gigolo" | |||
| Released | August 14, 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:53 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Michael Omartian | |||
| Christopher Cross singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" on YouTube | ||||
A commercial success in the United States, it reached the top of both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Adult Contemporary charts in October 1981, remaining at the top of the Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks. The song topped the VG-lista chart in Norway and was a top-ten hit in several other countries.
The song ranked No. 79 among the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey in 2004.
Background
The song was written in collaboration between Cross, pop music composer Burt Bacharach, and Bacharach's frequent writing partner and then-wife Carole Bayer Sager. A fourth writing credit went to Minnelli's ex-husband, Australian songwriter Peter Allen, a frequent collaborator with Bayer Sager. The line in the chorus "When you get caught between the moon and New York City" was taken from an unreleased song written by Allen and Bayer Sager. Allen came up with the line while his plane was in a holding pattern during a night arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Release
The song "Minstrel Gigolo" served as the record's B-side, having previously backed Cross's debut single, "Ride Like the Wind".
Cross included "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" as a bonus track exclusive to cassette and CD versions of his 1983 album Another Page.
Music video
The music video consists of two acts, which are edited together in fade outs. In one, Christopher Cross performs the song with musicians in a recording studio, and the other is the story the song illustrates.
Personnel
- Christopher Cross – lead and backing vocals, guitar
- Michael Omartian – keyboards, synthesizers, string arrangements
- Michael Boddicker – synthesizer programming
- Steve Lukather – guitar
- Marty Walsh – guitar
- David Hungate – bass
- Jeff Porcaro – drums
- Paulinho da Costa – percussion
- Ernie Watts – saxophone
Charts and certifications
Charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
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See also
References
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
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