Origins

The song was originally featured as the official theme of the 1980 Winter Olympics, held in Lake Placid, New York.^[1] The TV network ABC had used Mangione's recordings four years earlier during their coverage of the 1976 Summer Olympics, and the then President of ABC Sports, Roone Arledge, asked the musician to create the theme song for the Winter games.^[1] Mangione also performed the song live at the Closing Ceremonies on February 24.^[2] The C minor version was also used for sign-off music on CBUT Vancouver and WFLD Chicago in the early-to-mid 1980s. It was also used by WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island in their 1986 sign-off.

Released as a single just before the Olympics, "Give It All You Got" peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1980.^[3] The song charted at No. 32 on the Billboard R&B chart and spent three non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard adult contemporary chart.^[1] This was Mangione's second single to reach No. 1 on the AC chart, following "Feels So Good" from 1978.

The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1981 in the category Best Instrumental Composition, losing out to composer John Williams and his score to the film The Empire Strikes Back.

Mangione has described the process of composing the instrumental's music, saying that his "vision was to think about the athletes and their efforts to do their best now. They're giving it all they've got. And we almost got to be like the athletes because we also got to perform the song at the ceremonies for a worldwide audience."^[1]