Butterfly (Van McCoy song)
song by Van McCoy
Butterfly was a hit for Van McCoy in 1965. However, it didn't make waves in the United States. It was Canada where it had success.
Background
Columbia Records had recently acquired Van McCoy in 1965. David Kapralik made McCoy known to Columbia vice-president, William P. Gallagher. Kapralik was also McCoy's manager. In spite of Van McCoy's history as a composer, Columbia wanted to push him as a recording artist. Billboard wrote in an October 2 article that the Columbia was using its might in a promotion to pitch McCoy via a coast-to-coast tour of radio stations, extensive trade advertising, and promotional mailing to disk jockeys etc. Amongst this, there was to be a cover story about McCoy on the record company's nationally distributed company magazine, Insight.
This was McCoy's first single for Columbia.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Butterfly (Van McCoy song)” as song by Van McCoy. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as song by Van McCoy. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 8, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q118902868. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1965.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Butterfly (Van McCoy song)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Butterfly (Van McCoy song) primary sources, Butterfly (Van McCoy song) archive and Butterfly research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Butterfly (Van McCoy song)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Butterfly (Van McCoy song)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.