Unchained Melody

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Unchained Melody is the title of a pop song composed by Hy Zaret (text) and Alex North (music) in 1955 , of which four versions achieved the status of a million seller .

History of origin

Unchained Melody is one of the few pop songs that do not contain an immediately identifiable punchline (" groove "), where the song title does not appear in the text and whose title has no meaning for the song.

The authorship of the evergreen is controversial. The music publisher MPL Music Publishing , which manages the copyright , registered Hy Zaret (text) and Alex North (music) as authors with ASCAP in 1942 . William Albert Stirrat (born November 5, 1919, † July 2, 2004), a trained electrician, only claimed his alleged author's rights in 1982 as a copywriter of an unpublished work. Afterwards he is said to have thought up the text as a 16-year-old in 1936 as a reminder of the love for a young woman named Marie Louise "Cookie" Pierce. According to an unverified newspaper report, he had to sign documents for the lyrics written in 1936 in 1941 authorizing composer Alex North to include the song in a film. It was not until 1979 that Stirrat joined the American authors' guild. However, the only source from the author of the article DeNicola contains some contradictions from the interview with Stirrat. It may be that Stirrat wrote a song text as a 16-year-old, but contrary to his claims, he does not appear on the list of participants at the Yaddo summer camp - an artist community in the US state of New York - where he - also not listed - 26-year-old composer Alex North wants to have met. The film Unchained , in which the Unchained Melody first appeared, was only released in cinemas 14 years after the alleged signing of the documents (in Germany under the title Escape - Die Flucht ). It is also puzzling why the plaintiff only came up with the idea of ​​filing a copyright lawsuit in 1982 - a long time after the successful title publications. While the ASCAP lists 235 titles as protected by copyright for Hy Zaret, none is listed for Stirrat - although his name is registered there. It appears to be a typical Internet - Hoax to act, in which a single source without further research is uncritically taken over by third parties.

Secured in any case that North the music for the little-known B-movie -Kinofilm Unchained wrote that the movie directed by Hall Bartlett acted on a California prison and was released in theaters on January 19, 1955th Zaret was asked by North to write a text for the existing melody. He rejected the film producer's request to use the word "unchained" in the text. In the film, the song is sung by baritone Todd Duncan - who became known as the singer in George Gershwin's “ Porgy and Bess ” - in a short version (1:19 min) near the end. There is obviously no record pressing from Duncan's film recording of the song. In the film soundtrack, released in April 1955, the song is immortalized by the blind African American Al Hibbler . In the text by Hy Zaret, the singer confesses that he misses his beloved dearly, which can also be transferred to a prisoner. The movie was quickly forgotten, but the song wasn't. In 1956 he was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best song .

First recordings

Les Baxter - Unchained Melody

Two days before the film premiere, Les Baxter recorded the title with his orchestra on January 17, 1955, staying at number one on the US hit parade for three weeks and selling over 1 million copies. His recording is considered to be the first commercial record of the song. Al Hibbler was in the studio with Jack Pleis' orchestra on February 4, 1955, and after its release in March 1955, it also exceeded the one-million mark; on April 9, 1955, Baxter's and Hibbler's versions were released simultaneously. Roy Hamilton took the title in April 1955, reaching out Rank 6 pop and No. 1 of the Rhythm & Blues - Hit Parade , June Valli took the song on 15 March 1955 and came down to rank 29. All four versions were at 14 May 1955 also placed in the Top40. In April 1955, Jimmy Young brought out a version produced by Dick Rowe for the British market, which stayed there for three weeks at first place. Dick James , later the Beatles music publisher, brought another version onto the market at the same time as Liberace in June 1955.

Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

The Righteous Brothers recorded a version arranged in high voices by Jack Nitzsche on March 2, 1965 for Phil Spector's Philles record label at Radio Recorders in Hollywood with the participation of Larry Levine (sound engineer) for their LP Just Once in My Life . The following single, released in June 1965, initially considered the song as the B-side of Gerry Goffin / Carole King’s composition Hung on You , but the airplay preferred Unchained Melody . Spector, who mostly took care of singles as a producer, didn't produce the B-side, but Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. The record reached number 4 in the charts. This version was the theme song for the 1990 film Ghost Message, starring Demi Moore , Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg (premiered July 13, 1990). On April 24, 1977 Elvis Presley recorded his version live for the album Moody Blue , which was released in July 1977.

More million seller

The British duo Robson & Jerome presented their version of the best-selling single of the year in Great Britain on May 8, 1995 with 1.844 million records sold and number one for seven weeks, Gareth Gates sold a total of 1.4 with his Europop version released in March 2002 Million copies and also reached first place for 2 weeks. This makes Unchained Melody the only single with 4 different number 1 versions and at the same time 4 different million sellers.

New recordings / cover versions

statistics

According to ASCAP, 215 versions are registered, making the title one of the most covered songs. 493 titles are copyrighted for Alex North and 235 for Hy Zaret; therefore they are among the professional songwriters. The title also appears in the movie Ghost : The Musical , which premiered on May 14, 2011 at the Manchester Opera House in Manchester, and in the musical Ghost: The Musical .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ ASCAP, Ralph Murphy: The Nut , 2003.
  2. ↑ News Transcript of December 3, 2003: Linda DeNicola, Writer Forever Linked to Unchained Melody ( Memento of April 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ HY ASCAP entry for Hy Zaret
  4. ↑ WILLIAM ALBERT ASCAP entry for William Albert Stirrat
  5. ↑ The New York Times, July 3, 2007, Obituary: Hy Zaret, Unchained Melody Lyricist, 99
  6. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 87.
  7. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 90.
  8. ↑ Second song from the 2009 album Romantica ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ ASCAP entry for Unchained Melody