Every so often I’ll hear an old song on the radio and fall for it in a way I never managed to the first time around. This usually happens with songs released in the late 70s through early 80s, a time when I was between 6-11 years old and not exactly in control of my own musical landscape.

Olivia Newton-John’s ‘Magic,’ from the 1980 movie Xanadu, is the most recent example. I heard it on an easy listening or oldies station (remember when “oldies” meant 50s and 60s?) and immediately succumbed to the glossy perfection of peak Newton-John.

I was certainly aware of this song all along, having heard it when it was new and off and on since then, but I’d never really taken the time to appreciate it. Suddenly I’m semi-obsessed.

Perhaps that’s partly due to nostalgia over my boyhood crush on Olivia Newton-John, the most wholesomely sexy, fresh-faced, English-by-way-of-Australia songstress in history.

But it’s also due to her beautiful voice, which suits this ethereal song just perfectly. Her performance on the verses, in particular, is just mesmerizing.

I never saw Xanadu, and given its reputation as a legendarily bad movie I’m sure that’s for the best, but I’m guessing the soundtrack deserved its status as a smash hit. How often does a box office bomb produce a Billboard blockbuster?

Interesting fact care of Wikipedia: In an interview published shortly before his death, John Lennon singled out this song as one of his favorites.