Joe Esposito: You're the Best [purchase]
I'm not quite sure why I had this song in my library, but I'm glad to share it here anyway.
This is, of course, the song that played during the tournament montage in the movie The Karate Kid. As a wide eyed Daniel Russo punched and kicked his way through the members of the Kobra Kai dojo, Joe Esposito's lyrics told us all what we already knew. Russo was the best around, and nothing was ever gonna keep him down.
Esposito actually had a fairly long and distinguished career in the music industry. He scored a top 5 single with Donna Summer in 1978 as a member of the R&B group The Brooklyn Dreams ("Heaven Knows"). He is also a three time Grammy nominee and has written songs for artists such as Summer, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Stephen Stills.
Still... he'll always be known for these three minutes.
Interesting sidenote... In a 2008 interview with Adam Carolla, Esposito said this song was originally written for Rocky III, but was replaced at the last minute by "Eye of the Tiger." Rocky or Russo, who do you think is the best?