<P> "Copacabana", also known as "Copacabana (At the Copa)", is a song recorded by Barry Manilow . Written by Manilow, Jack Feldman, and Bruce Sussman, it was released in 1978 as the third and final single from Manilow's fifth studio album, Even Now (1978). </P> <P> The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow and Sussman at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, when they discussed whether there had ever been a song called "Copacabana". After returning to the US, Manilow--who, in the 1960s, had been a regular visitor to the Copacabana nightclub in New York City--suggested that Sussman and Feldman write the lyrics to a story song for him . They did so, and Manilow supplied the music . </P> <P> The song's lyrics refer to the Copacabana nightclub, "the hottest spot north of Havana". The story starts in the late 1940s, focused on Lola, a Copacabana showgirl, and her sweetheart Tony, a bartender at the club . One night, a mobster named Rico takes a fancy to Lola, but he overplays his hand while trying to seduce her and is attacked by Tony . The ensuing brawl results in a shooting; after it is initially unclear "who shot who," it soon becomes clear that Tony has died . Thirty years later, the club has been transformed into a discotheque, but a drunken Lola, mad with grief at having lost Tony, still spends her nights at the Copacabana dressed in her glamorous showgirl attire . </P> <P> The recording was used as incidental music in the 1978 film Foul Play, which starred Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, and has been featured in over a dozen other films since . It is one of two Manilow songs used in the movie, the other being its theme song, "Ready to Take a Chance Again". In his autobiographical work, "Americana: The Kinks, the Riff, the Road: The Story", Ray Davies, former leader and singer of The Kinks, recounted a story of a meeting with Clive Davis, then - president of Arista Records, at the record executive's home on Long Island where Davies suggested to Davis that "Copacabana" should be released as a single . The single version clocks in at 4: 08; the extended disco version is titled "Copacabana (At the Copa) (Disco)" and is 5: 46 in length . As opposed to a commercial 12" single, the extended version was on the flip side of the 45 and can also be found on Manilow's first Greatest Hits double album . </P>

Name of the showgirl in barry manilows song copacabana