On this day, April 11, 1966, Frank Sinatra recorded "Strangers in the Night."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Mon Oct 16, 2023, 08:34 AM - Edit history (3)

Mon Oct 16, 2023: On this day, October 16, 1923, Bert Kaempfert was born.

Mon Apr 11, 2022: On this day, April 11, 1966, Frank Sinatra recorded "Strangers in the Night."

Hat tip, On This Day

Strangers in the Night



Single by Frank Sinatra from the album Strangers in the Night

B-side: "Oh, You Crazy Moon"
Released: May 1966
Recorded: April 11, 1966
Composer(s): Bert Kaempfert
Lyricist(s): Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder
Producer(s): Jimmy Bowen

"Strangers in the Night" is a song composed by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Kaempfert originally used it under the title "Beddy Bye" as part of the instrumental score for the movie A Man Could Get Killed. The song was made famous in 1966 by Frank Sinatra, although it was initially given to Melina Mercouri, who thought that a man's vocals would better suit the melody and therefore declined to sing it.

Reaching #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Easy Listening chart, it was the title song for Sinatra's 1966 album Strangers in the Night, which became his most commercially successful album. The song also reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.

Sinatra's recording won him the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist or Instrumentalist for Ernie Freeman at the Grammy Awards of 1967.

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Recording

The track was recorded on April 11, 1966, one month before the rest of the album. Hal Blaine was the drummer and Glen Campbell played rhythm guitar. According to Blaine, he reused the iconic drum beat from "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes in a slower and softer arrangement.

One of the most memorable and recognizable features of the record is Sinatra's scat improvisation of the melody (on take two) with the syllables "doo-be-doo-be-doo" as the song fades to the end. For the CD Nothing but the Best, the song was remastered and the running time is 2:45 instead of the usual 2:35. The extra ten seconds is just a continuation of Sinatra's scat singing. In 1968, CBS television executive Fred Silverman was inspired by the scat whilst listening to the recording on a red-eye flight to a development meeting for a Saturday morning cartoon show and decided to rename the dog character to "Scooby-Doo".

Sinatra despised the song, calling it at one time "a piece of shit" and "the worst fucking song that I have ever heard." He was not afraid to voice his disapproval of playing it live. In spite of his contempt for the song, it gave him a number one hit for the first time in 11 years, and remained on the charts for 15 weeks.

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Wed Sep 13, 2023: On this day, September 13, 1969, "Scooby-Doo" went on the air.

[Docreed2003]

1. Had no idea of the Scooby Doo connection! Wild

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Ring-a-ding-ding, baby. NT

Last edited Tue Apr 11, 2023, 08:14 AM - Edit history (1)

[Chipper Chat]

3. What was his previous hit eleven years earlier?

I'm guessing young at heart

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. It looks like ...

Frank Sinatra discography

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Capitol singles (1953–1962)

1955: "Learnin' the Blues" hit a peak chart position of number one on the Billboard Hot 100, number two on Cash Box, and number 2 on the UK singles chart.

{snip}

"Young At Heart" was from 1954. That peaked at number two on Billboard, number two on Cash Box, and number 12 on the UK singles chart. "Three Coins in the Fountain," also from 1954, peaked at number four on the Billboard chart, but it was number one at Cash Box and on the UK singles chart.

Wikipedia seems to defer to the Billboard Hot 100 in these situations. Maybe the article's main writer should make a note of which chart he's talking about. I'll leave that up to him.