<P> It should not be confused with the song "New York, New York", from Leonard Bernstein / Adolph Green / Betty Comden's musical On the Town (1944), which features the lyric "New York, New York, it's a helluva town / The Bronx is up and the Battery's down ..." </P> <P> Composers Kander and Ebb stated on the A&E Biography episode about Liza Minnelli, that they attribute the song's success to actor Robert De Niro, who rejected their original theme for the film because he thought it was "too weak". </P> <P> The song did not become a popular hit until it was picked up in concert by Frank Sinatra during his performances at Radio City Music Hall in October 1978 . (It was not even nominated for the Academy Award for' Best Song'). Subsequently, Sinatra recorded it in 1979 for his 1980 Trilogy set (Reprise Records), and it became one of his signature songs . The single peaked at #32 in June 1980, becoming his final Top Forty charting hit . It was also an Adult Contemporary hit, reaching #10 in the US and #2 in Canada . The song made a minor showing in the UK (#59), however, recharted several years later and reached #4 in 1986 . Sinatra made two more studio recordings of the song in 1981 (for his NBC TV special The Man and His Music) and 1993 (for Capitol Records). From the latter, an electronic duet with Tony Bennett was produced for Sinatra's Duets album . </P> <P> The lyrics of the Sinatra versions differ slightly from Ebb's original lyrics . Notably, the phrase "A-number - one", which does not appear at all in the original lyrics, is sung twice at the song's rallentando climax . (Ebb has said he "didn't even like" Sinatra's use of "A-number - one"). The phrase is both the first and fourth on a list of three superlative titles the singer strives to achieve--"A-number - one, top of the list, king of the hill, A-number - one"--where Ebb's original lyrics (performed by Minnelli) were "king of the hill, head of the list, cream of the crop, at the top of the heap ." </P>

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