Manilow was initially reluctant to record the song, stating in his autobiography "Sweet Life": "The problem with the song was that if you didn't listen carefully to the lyric, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be misinterpreted as a monumental ego trip." After persuasion by Clive Davis, then president of Arista Records, Manilow recorded the song, and his version of "I Write the Songs" was the first single taken from the album "Tryin' to Get the Feeling". It first charted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on November 15, 1975, reaching the top of the chart nine weeks later, on January 17, 1976.