Pop Song 168 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)' Christopher Cross 1981

Pop Song 168 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)' Christopher Cross 1981

The song was written in collaboration between Cross, pop music composer Burt Bacharach, and Bacharach's frequent writing partner and then-wife Carole Bayer Sager. A fourth writing credit went to Minnelli's ex-husband, Australian songwriter Peter Allen, also a frequent collaborator with Bayer Sager: the line "When you get caught between the moon and New York City" from the chorus was taken from an unreleased song Allen and Bayer Sager had previously written together. Allen came up with the line while his plane was in a holding pattern during a night arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The song won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Original Song and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 2004 it finished at #79 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of the top tunes in American cinema. In 2008, Barry Manilow released a cover version for his The Greatest Songs of the Eighties album.