Rocky: Original Motion Picture Score
1976 soundtrack album by Bill Conti

Rocky: Original Motion Picture Score is a soundtrack album for the 1976 American film Rocky, composed by Bill Conti. It was released on vinyl in the United States on November 12, 1976, by United Artists Records, followed by a CD release by EMI Records on November 7, 1988. The soundtrack is notable for its inclusion of "Gonna Fly Now", the theme song from Rocky.
Overview
Although the Conti version of "Gonna Fly Now" is the most recognizable arrangement, a cover of the song performed by legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson on his Conquistador album prior to the release of the motion picture soundtrack actually outsold the soundtrack itself. The version of Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" released on later records and CDs differs from the version used in the film, with the vocals and guitars much more emphasized in the film than on the versions released. The audio of the version played in the movie has yet to be officially released. Parts of the song contain phases of the German fanfare march "Fehrbelliner Reitermarsch".
Track listing
All music by Bill Conti.
The public source identifies “Rocky: Original Motion Picture Score” as 1976 soundtrack album by Bill Conti. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Rocky, Original and Motion.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rocky: Original Motion Picture Score” 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.