DESCRIPTION:
"Strangers in the Night" is a popular song originally composed by Avo Uvezian as "Broken Guitar" and later renamed 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.
Reaching number one 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 number one 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.
One of the most memorable and recognizable features of the record is Sinatra's scat improvisation of the melody with the syllables "doo-be-doo-be-doo" as the song fades to the end. Many fans lament the fact, that the fade was early and Sinatra's improvisation is cut off too soon. 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. The track was recorded on April 11, 1966, one month before the rest of the album.
Sinatra despised the song, calling it at one time "a piece of shit" and "the worst fucking song that I have ever heard."[3] He was not afraid to voice his disapproval for playing it live. In spite of his contempt for the song, for the first time in eleven years he had a number one song, and it remained on the charts for fifteen weeks.
"Strangers in the Night" was recorded by many other artists, among them:
Peter Beil
in German as "Fremde in der Nacht"
Cake
Vikki Carr
Petula Clark
for her 1966 album I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
Dalida
in Italian as "Sola più che mai"
Rodney Dangerfield
on his 2005 album Romeo Rodney
Connie Francis
a first version in English (recorded April 2, 1966 - nine days prior to Sinatra's recording), which remains unreleased as of July 2012[5]
a second Version in English for her 1966 album "Movie Greats Of The 60s"[6]
in Italian as "Sola più che mai" for her 1967 album Connie Francis canta i suoi best-seller[5]
in Spanish as "No puedo olvidar" for her 1967 album Grandes Exitos del Cine de los Años 60[6]
Anita Kerr Singers
for their 1967 album Bert Kaempfert Turns Us On[7]
Jack Jones
who also recorded the song in 1966 just before Frank Sinatra recorded his version
Brenda Lee
Perrey and Kingsley
an electronic version featuring the Moog synthesizer on their album Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music From Way Out
Al Martino
Bette Midler
on her album Songs for the New Depression
Johnny Mathis
Mina
recorded two versions of this song, one on her 1984 album Catene and another on her 2005 album L'allieva.
Ivo Robić
in German as "Fremde in der Nacht"
in Croatian as "Stranci u Noći"
Gerhard Wendland
in German as "Fremde in der Nacht"
Barry Manilow
on his album Manilow Sings Sinatra
Aerosmith
on their Live! Bootleg album as an instrumental cover