Song:Strangers In The Night
Album:Greatest Love Songs
By the mid-60s, I don't think Frank Sinatra was considering retirement. But the kind of songs he was recording like September Of My Years and It Was A Very Good Year made fans think he was considering it. Instead, the 1966 hit Strangers In The Night was his first number one hit in years. And it turned out to be one of the biggest hits of his career. Though Sinatra and arranger Gordon Jenkins won Grammys for It Was A Very Good Year, it only reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sinatra thought that reuniting with Nelson Riddle would get him that number one hit. Riddle was his arranger through the 50s. But Sinatra switched to Jenkins shortly after starting Reprise Records in the early 60s. Strangers In The Night was written by German composer Bert Kaempfert for the 1966 film A Man Could Get Killed. The lyrics were written by veteran songwriters Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder. The song was supposed to be sung in the movie by Melina Mercouri. But the producers decided against it and then the song was recorded by Sinatra. The story goes that Sinatra hated the song. And he was not a happy camper during the recording session. The musicians were guys from The Wrecking Crew like drummer Hal Blaine, pianist Leon Russell and guitarist Glen Campbell. Jimmy Bowen produced, Ernie Freeman wrote the arrangement and Riddle conducted. So I'm sure no one was more surprised than Sinatra when Strangers In The Night topped the Billboard Hot 100. The last time he topped the charts was in 1955. Sinatra won a couple of Grammys and Ernie Freeman also won a Grammy. You can get Strangers In The Night on this budget comp. Of course Sinatra retired in the early 70s but he didn't stay retired. Strangers In The Night turned out to be one of the biggest hits of his career. Here's Frank Sinatra performing Strangers In The Night at the Concert for The Americas in the Dominican Republic Aug. 20, 1982.
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