About the song

There are love songs — and then there are Barry Manilow love songs. “The Best of Me” is one of those rare moments where music feels less like sound and more like a confession whispered in the dark. It’s the kind of song you don’t just listen to; you feel it — in the quiet ache of your chest, in the places where memory still lingers.

Released during the later years of Manilow’s career, this song has the depth and tenderness of a man who has lived through love — not the wild, reckless kind, but the lasting, vulnerable kind that asks for honesty and devotion. His voice here is mature and full, carrying every ounce of emotion as if each word were meant for someone he’ll never stop loving.

What makes “The Best of Me” so moving isn’t its melody alone, though it’s beautifully arranged with sweeping strings and soft piano. It’s the message — about giving everything you are to another person, about the courage to love completely even when it hurts. There’s a quiet humility in it, an understanding that love isn’t about perfection, but about offering the best parts of yourself to someone who truly sees you.

This song feels like the final page of a love story — not an ending, but a reflection. It’s what you play when you’re looking back at all the moments that shaped you, the laughter and the tears, the things you’d do all over again just to feel that closeness one more time.

Barry Manilow has always had this rare gift — the ability to turn emotions into music that stays with you. “The Best of Me” is him at his most sincere, most human. It’s not just a love song; it’s a quiet promise: “You’ve had the best of me — and I don’t regret a single thing.”

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