Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin Jr. "Nadia's Theme"

Okay, stay with me here: Barry and Perry were nominated for a ’71 Grammy with a score that featured the tune “Cotton’s Dream” from Stanley Kramer’s film of Glendon Swarthout’s novel Bless The Beasts and Children. (Karen and Richard Carpenter were nominated for an Oscar for the theme song proper.) Two years later, Perry recast his and Barry’s melody for a brand new half-hour CBS soap opera – a little show called The Young and The Restless. (And save for a brief time in the early 2000s when a more upbeat, less sentimental version was used, it’s still the first - and last - thing you hear from the fucked up families of Genoa City, Wisconsin.) Three years later still, the ’76 Montreal Olympics are in full swing and a 14-year-old Romanian by the name of Nadia Comaneci becomes the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10. ABC’s Wild World of Sports begins airing montages of the lithe and nimble lil’ Commie accompanied by Perry’s rehashing. A&M Records renames and releases the song as a single, fails to credit Barry and is sued by him for nearly a quarter of a million bicentential dollars. A decade later, David Hasselhoff nearly kills the ditty on his album Lovin’ Feelings, while Mary J. Blige finishes the job in 2002. Whew!