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The early-70s pop group “Looking Glass” didn’t last long, but they left us the excellent and timeless song “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).”

“Looking Glass” was formed by four students at Rutgers University in 1969. “Brandy” was on their first album in 1972. In 1973, they followed up with a second album and the modestly successful “Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne,” but that was it. By 1974, the group disbanded.

Elliot Lurie, the group’s lead singer, tried to go solo, but never got real traction. He turned to producing music in Hollywood.

The story of Brandy‘s unrequited love is a poignant classic, especially as presented in Lurie’s unique golden tones. I can’t imagine “Brandy” sung in any other voice.

Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)

By Looking Glass, 1972
Written by Elliot Lurie

There’s a port on a western bay,
And it serves a hundred ships a day.
Lonely sailors pass the time away
And talk about their homes.

And there’s a girl in this harbor town,
And she works layin’ whiskey down.
They say, “Brandy, fetch another round.”
She serves them whiskey and wine.

The sailors say, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl.
What a good wife you would be.
Yeah, your eyes could steal a sailor from the sea.”

Brandy wears a braided chain
Made of finest silver from the north of Spain.
A locket that bears the name
Of the man that Brandy loves.

He came on a summer’s day,
Bringin’ gifts from far away.
But he made it clear he couldn’t stay.
No harbor was his home.

The sailor said “Brandy, you’re a fine girl.
What a good wife you would be.
But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea.”

Yeah, Brandy used to watch his eyes
When he told his sailor stories.
She could feel the ocean fall and rise
When she saw his ragin’ glory.
But he had always told the truth. Lord, he was an honest man.
And Brandy does her best to understand.

At night when the bars close down,
Brandy walks through a silent town,
And loves a man who’s not around.
She still can hear him say…

She hears him say, “Brandy, you’re a fine girl.
What a good wife you would be.
But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea.”

“Brandy, you’re a fine girl.
What a good wife you would be.
But my life, my lover, my lady is the sea.”