"Fascination" is a song written by David Bowie and Luther Vandross for Bowie's Young Americans album in 1975. The song originated from a Vandross song called "Funky Music" which Mike Garson Band used to play before Bowie concerts in 1974. It also appeared in the Sound + Vision box set.
"Fascination" is a popular song with music by F.D. Marchetti and lyrics by Maurice de Féraudy (English lyrics by Dick Manning). Published in 1932, it was popularized in the 1957 movie, Love in the Afternoon.
The recording by Jane Morgan was released by Kapp Records as catalog number 191. It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on September 9, 1957. On the Disk Jockey chart, it peaked at #7; on the Best Seller chart, at #12; on the composite chart of the top 100 songs, it reached #11.
It was also recorded by Dinah Shore, Dick Jacobs, and David Carroll, all of whose versions made the charts. Paul Mauriat recorded an instrumental version of the song on his album Best of France. There is also a Portuguese language version, recorded by Elis Regina for her album Falso Brilhante (1976).
It is also featured on General Hospital numerous times, usually during Luke and Laura scenes. A faster tempo version of this song was featured in the first two Karate Kid films. Once during the scene at the country club, where Ali and Johnny are dancing together. The second occasion in Part II, when Daniel and Miyagi are in the car with Chozen, and Chozen dials the radio to a station that plays this same song. You can even see Daniel react to hearing it, and the memory of Ali that it invokes. In The Next Karate Kid, Miyagi teaches Julie to dance to a vocal version of the song.
