The song was recorded by
Cindy Fee to serve as the theme song for the
NBC sitcom
The Golden Girls, and recorded again by former
Three Dog Night co-frontman
Chuck Negron for the series's
CBS spin-off
The Golden Palace. Additionally, the song was featured as a dedication to the host on
Casey Kasem's final
American Top 20/10, broadcast on the
Fourth of July weekend in 2009; it was Casey Kasem's final long distance dedication. at the end of two
World Series games (Game 5 in
1988 and Game 4 in
1990); in the ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' episode "Mac's Mom Burns Her House Down"; at the end of
Super Bowl XL; in the episode of
The Simpsons titled "
Double, Double, Boy in Trouble"; on episodes of the TV shows
Dancing with the Stars,
Family Guy,
New Girl,
Looking,
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,
The Goldbergs,
Arrested Development,
Atlanta,
The Boys and the TV special
Trolls Holiday, as well as on a May 2010 episode of
Saturday Night Live hosted by
Golden Girls star
Betty White, in which past and present cast members sang the song followed by a
death metal version of the song performed by White while wearing a ski mask.
Elaine Paige and
Dionne Warwick released a recording of the song on Paige's duet album
Elaine Paige and Friends in 2010. Other notables who covered the song include ex-Beatle
Ringo Starr, whose unreleased recording of the composition was produced by longtime Andrew Gold confederate
Peter Asher, and actress/singer
Bernadette Peters, who used it to open her 1979 live video release
Bernadette Peters In Concert. The song was included in the
Wearside Jack tape by someone purporting to be
the Yorkshire Ripper; covered by ska-pop band
Suburban Legends on their 2015 album
Forever in the FriendZone, and reimagined by Virginia punk-rockers The Blanche Devereauxs on their 2009 LP
Midnight Cheesecake Banter. It was also recorded by singer-songwriter and sometime Gold collaborator
Stephen Bishop; ensembles such as the Starlite Singers, Wild Stylerz, Smooch, Bliss, The Blue Rubatos, and Micah's Rule; singers
Alyssa Bonagura,
Angela Galuppo, Valerie DeLaCruz, and Brynn Marie; and bandleader Brandon Schott, with instrumental interpretations by groups including the London Studio Orchestra,
Orlando Pops Orchestra, the Twilight Trio, and the Instrumental All Stars with Dominic Kirwan. Various iterations of the composition have also been used in a number of advertisements, including a commercial for the
New York Lottery, a German ad for
Toyota, a UK ad for
KFC, a special one-off ad for
Arby's to commemorate the end of
Jon Stewart's run as host of TV's
The Daily Show, a web ad for the
Radio City Music Hall dance troupe
the Rockettes, 2019 Campbells Soup Commercial, a Coffee Mate commercial, a
Volkswagen advert in the UK in 2024/5, an
IKEA advert in Australia in 2025, a 2013
Super Bowl ad for the
National Football League, and in a trailer for the movie
Deadpool 2, posted on lead actor
Ryan Reynolds's Twitter account to thank fans for the box-office success of the superhero blockbuster. The chorus of the song is sampled in
Rachel Platten's song of the same name on
the 2017 soundtrack album of
My Little Pony: The Movie. In 2020, a version of the song was sung by Jane and Kat in
The Bold Type, Season 4, Episode 16 "Not Far from the Tree". In 2021 former
AEW star
CM Punk jokingly sang the song along with
"Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and
Luchasaurus on
AEW Dark the day before
AEW All Out. In 2023,
Tony Christie, along with
Sting and
Nile Rodgers, rerecorded the song as a charity single for Music for Dementia's campaign for Thank You Day. ==Chart performance==