Strangers in the Night
Recorded in an hour in April 1966 and a number one single, though Sinatra reportedly hated it.
Frank Sinatra (1966)
- Written by
- Bert Kaempfert, Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder
- Released
- 1966
Bert Kaempfert wrote the music, and Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder wrote the English lyrics. Sinatra recorded it on 11 April 1966 at United Western Recorders on Sunset Boulevard, with a 35-piece orchestra. He arrived at 8 pm and finished by 9 pm. The producer was Jimmy Bowen, and the arranger Ernie Freeman was hired quickly so that Sinatra could beat Jack Jones's version to release. Reprise released it on 12 April, with Oh, You Crazy Moon on the B-side. The scat phrase at the end comes from take two.
It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 2 July 1966, spent seven weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart and three weeks at number one in the UK. It won Grammys for Record of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal and arrangement, and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and it entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sinatra reportedly disliked it intensely, and Reprise head Joe Smith said he thought it was about two men in a bar. In concert Sinatra often altered the lyrics for comic effect.
More songs by Frank Sinatra
I've Got You Under My Skin, Fly Me to the Moon, The Girl from Ipanema, My Way, Theme from New York, New York, It Was a Very Good Year, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
Sources
- Strangers in the Night, Wikipedia
- Strangers in the Night (work), SecondHandSongs