"Magic" is a 1974 song by Scottish

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

and was the first hit single for the group. It was written by band members

David Paton David Paton (; born 29 October 1949) is a Scottish bassist, guitarist and singer. He first achieved success in the mid-1970s as lead vocalist and bassist of Pilot, who scored hits with " Magic", "January", "Just a Smile" and "Call Me Round" b ...

and

Billy Lyall William Lyall (26 March 1953 – 1 December 1989) was a Scottish musician, known for his work with Pilot (Scottish band), Pilot, The Alan Parsons Project, and the Bay City Rollers. Biography Career Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Lyall was a ...

for their debut album, '' From the Album of the Same Name''.

Background

According to Paton, the song is inspired by the sunrise on

Blackford Hill Blackford Hill is a hill in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. It is in the area of Blackford, between Morningside, and the Braid Hills. Together with the Hermitage of Braid, it comprises the Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. In a 2012 interview with Hotdisc Television, Paton also stated that at the time, his wife said she had "never seen a daybreak", which also inspired the song.

Personnel

Pilot

– lead vocals, bass, electric guitar *

– keyboards, synthesizer, piano, backing vocals * Stuart Tosh – drums, backing vocals

Additional personnel

Ian Bairnson John "Ian" Bairnson (3 August 1953 – 7 April 2023) was a Scottish musician and member of Pilot and the Alan Parsons Project. He was a multi-instrumentalist, who played saxophone and keyboards, but mainly performed as a guitarist, which he pl ...

– additional

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

(uncredited)

Chart performance

"Magic" charted most successfully in Canada, where it topped the ''RPM'' national singles chart on 19 July 1975, and received a gold certification. It climbed as far as number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 5 during the summer of 1975 in the US on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Selena Gomez version

The cover version by

Selena Gomez Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and businesswoman. Gomez began her career as a child actress, appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), a ...

was released on July 22, 2009 as the first and only

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

for the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

television series ''

Wizards of Waverly Place ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' is an American fantasy teen sitcom created by Todd J. Greenwald that aired on Disney Channel for four seasons between October 2007 and January 2012. The series centers on Alex Russo (Selena Gomez), a teenage wi ...

''. It peaked at No. 61 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, No. 80 on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

chart, No. 5 on the Norwegian Singles Chart and at No. 90 on the UK Singles Chart. It has sold 563,000 copies in the United States. The song was featured in the television film '' Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie''. The music video premiered on the Disney Channel on July 24, 2009, and was directed by Roman Perez.

Charts

Certifications

Ozempic television advertisement

In 2018, pharmaceutical company

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S ...

began using the song in its ads for Ozempic, an injectable drug originally intended for people with type 2 diabetes, but which became popular for its off-label use as a weight-loss drug. David Paton was asked to return to

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

to record a new version of the song, which from a vocal standpoint is little more than his singing the opening line, replacing the words "It's magic" with "Ozempic" and otherwise adding nonverbal singing.

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* * {{authority control 1974 songs 1974 singles 1975 singles 2009 singles Pilot (band) songs Selena Gomez songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Alan Parsons Songs written by David Paton EMI Records singles Walt Disney Records singles

Background

Personnel

Pilot

Additional personnel

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Selena Gomez version

Charts

Certifications

Ozempic television advertisement

See also

References

External links