Carol Connors Reveals She Cowrote the ‘Rocky’ Theme in the Shower (Exclusive)
What To Know
- Carol Connors co-wrote the iconic “Gonna Fly Now” Rocky theme after being inspired by a rough cut of the film.
- “Gonna Fly Now” became a Grammy-nominated hit and has remained culturally significant.
- Nearly five decades later, Connors has received her second Grammy nomination.
This weekend, the Grammy Awards take center stage, but nearly five decades ago, one of the ceremony’s most memorable first-time nominees came from an unlikely place: the boxing ring. In 1977, songwriter Carol Connors earned her first Grammy nomination for Best Original Song with “Gonna Fly Now,” the now-iconic anthem from Rocky starring Sylvester Stallone
Now, 49 years later, Connors has been nominated for her second Grammy, but this time for the audiobook about her life, Elvis, “Rocky” and Me. Connors chatted with ReMIND magazine on how the Rocky song came about, the story of Elvis turning down the film A Star is Born and who her great love song “With You, I’m Born Again” was written for.
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How did the Rocky theme come about?
Carol Connors: Bill Condi, Ann Robbins [co-writers], and I had been asked to go to look at this little, tiny film that was less than a million-dollar budget. We were in a screening room, looking at a rough cut and there was a temporary song in the film. The song went like this: “He’s got a Sunday punch that will put you into Monday.“ I looked at Bill and I said, “Bill, that’s not bad.” He said to me, “Shut up, Carol.” The song was for the montage scene where Rocky’s running, pounding the beef, drinking the egg yolks, running through Philadelphia, and climbing up the steps.
So, the film ends, and this little man stands up, who’s a friend of [director] John Avildsen, and very soft spoken, he said: “John, you have a remarkable film here. John, you have a great film here. John, you’re going to probably be nominated for an Oscar, and you’re going to win it. John, this film is going to win best film. If you do one little thing.” And we were all like what? He said, “Get rid of that f***ing song.’” Those were his exact words! That song was written by Frank Stallone. Sly’s brother. I adore Frank, but they got rid of the song.
Later, Bill Condi came to my house with a couple of people and John Avildsen. Bill sits down at my piano, and he plays “Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba,” [singing the Rocky bass line]. I thought to myself, what is anybody going to write to that? Everybody leaves, and I go to take a shower.
In those days, you could take your phone into the shower, not like cell phones. All of a sudden, I can see the film going through my head. I went, “Oh my God.” And picked up the phone and I called Bill, and I said, “Bill, I know what the film’s about. I know what life’s about. I know what the song’s about.”
He’s very quiet, and he said, “Where are you?” Because he could hear the water. I said, “I’m in the shower.” He inquired, “Are you with somebody?’ I said, “Bill, I’m a Scorpio. If I was with somebody, would I be calling you?” He said, “Well, give me the line before you electrocute yourself.” The line was “Gonna fly now.” Because at that moment in time, when he did all those things, he could win, he could go the distance, and when he put him in slow motion and put his arms up, he could even fly — “Gonna fly now.” Rocky could do anything.
Did you think it would have the life span it has?
I didn’t even know it would be a hit!! We all thought the other song if anything was going to happen would be the Shirley Bassey song “You Take My Heart Away.” None of us thought “Gonna Fly Now” was going to be a hit.
We hear the Rocky theme every day.
And I get paid about every day! It bought my house in Beverly Hills. It’s still unbelievable and it’s beyond anyone’s comprehension.
Now, with writing lyrics or the music, what do you enjoy better, and does it come naturally?
Well, I was an incubator baby, four pounds, two ounces. And in those days, it was pretty dangerous, but I always say, that they wheeled a baby grand into my incubator and said, Start NOW. All I know is music!
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What’s easier? Sometimes they come together. Like when I wrote “With You, I’m Born Again,” the song I wrote for Robert Culp, it’s a number one record and went on to become, according to ASCAP and BMI, one of the great love songs of our time.
I did the lyrics on that in 22 minutes. I could not write them down fast enough. It’s like God allowed me to plug into some giant circuit in the sky. But I couldn’t find two of the simplest words for two weeks. [Carol sings] “Come show me your kindness in your arms. I know I’ll find this.” I could not find those two words “find this” for two weeks.
Then the second line of the song, “Come bring me yourself to comfort me through all this madness.” There’s a term in songwriting; it doesn’t “scan properly” because it really doesn’t. So I said to Robert Culp, “I think I’m gonna try and change that second line and I’ll never forget this,” Robert said, ‘Carol, if you change that second line, don’t tell anybody you wrote it about me.’ He put the fear of God in me, so I never changed the line.
The song is about my love affair with Robert Culp, and I wanted him to feel that way about me, and he did. I guess I’m Taylor Swift, but older — because she writes about all her love affairs.
What did your first boyfriend, Elvis, think about Rocky?
Rocky was up against A Star is Born and we were beating the pants off Barbra Streisand at the Oscars. Elvis congratulated me for Rocky; he was so proud of me. But did you know he was supposed to do A Star is Born? I believe, Tahya Shire believes, Diane Warren believes – we all believe – that Elvis would have been nominated for an Oscar if he would have done the film.
Elvis told me, “I was just offered a Star is Born, but Streisand and my manager [Colonel Tom Parker] hate each other. And he turned the film down.”
I believe it would have saved his life because he so wanted to be a serious actor. If you looked at his fluffy films, there were moments of genius of brilliance as an actor but they didn’t want him in those types of films. They only wanted him performing Girls on the Beach or Girls, Girls, Girls and Blue Hawaii and all those. They didn’t want him as a serious actor, and that’s what he wanted.
Elvis, “Rocky” & Me: The Carol Connors Story is available both as a book and audiobook on Amazon and at your local bookstore. For more about Carol Connors, visit her website.
The 68th Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 1, 2026, on CBS. Catch live highlights at Grammy.com and YouTube.
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