Wonderland at night
Wunderland bei Nacht is the title of an instrumental piece of music composed by Klaus Günter Neumann as a blues . In Germany the version with Bert Kaempfert was awarded a platinum record , in the USA the same version became a number one hit.
The original in Germany
Klaus-Günter Neumann composed Wunderland bei Nacht for the Fritz Anton film Our Wonderland by Night , which premiered in Germany on August 14, 1959. At the same time, Bert Kaempfert and his orchestra and trumpeter Charly Tabor produced the title for the Polydor record company , which provided it for the single with catalog number 24 086. Although Bert Kaempfert had already made a name for himself with the midnight blues in 1958 , Polydor hesitated with the delivery of the record. It wasn't until Wonderland by Night with Bert Kaempfert stormed the hit lists in the USA in November 1960 that the Polydor single also hit the German market. As a result, Wunderland appeared in the “Top 50” of the music magazine Musikmarkt at night on December 3, 1960 , but only rose to ninth place there. In the “musicbox” hit list of the youth magazine BRAVO, Wunderland bobbed around between positions twelve and nine at night from January to April. In the long run, however, the title had success in record stores as it was awarded a platinum record by the record industry.
Wonderland by Night
Annoyed by Polydor's handling of Wunderland at night , Bert Kaempfert left Germany and settled in the United States. There he offered his production of Wunderland bei Nacht to the producer of the Decca Milt Gabler record company . As a result, Kaempfert's instrumental appeared under the English title Wonderland by Night in August on the Decca single No. 31141. After hesitant sales, the music magazine Billboard first registered Bert Kaempfert on November 14th in its hit list "Hot 100" . On January 9, 1961, Wonderland by Night had reached number one, which the title defended for three weeks. He was in the Hot 100 for 17 weeks. Wonderland by Night was represented in the hit list of the competing magazine Cashbox for 18 weeks, but was only at the top once. The Decca single sold over two million copies in the United States.
Bert Kaempfert's Wonderland by Night spread beyond the USA worldwide, with Polydor also participating in international sales. In Canada, Australia and New Zealand the title also reached the top of the charts, in South Africa it was third.
Cover versions
In Germany, the instrumental version of Wunderland bei Nacht was only adopted by a few insignificant musicians. The cheap label Tempo published a production in 1960 with trumpeter Jack Norman, accompanied by the Christian Bruhn orchestra . In the same year the title came out on the small label Favorit with the orchestra Stan Silver. Under license, the British label London brought a trumpet version with Louis Prima, previously released on the US label Dot Records , onto the market in Germany. Prima reached number 15 on the Billboard charts. Wonderland by Night also appeared in the USA with saxophonist Ace Cannon. The instrumental was released in several European countries with the English trumpeter Eddie Calvert .
With the German Willi Stanke and the American Lincoln Chase, Klaus-Günter Neumann's melody was given a German and English text. Stankes text ("bright stars shine brightly for us in Wonderland at night and like in a fairy tale our love has awakened there") was published by both Lonny Kellner (on Telefunken ) and by Zarah Leander (on Ariola ) in the summer of 1961. As early as November 1960, Carlton released a single with Anita Bryant in the USA , on which the singer sings Wonderland by Night with the lyrics by Lincoln Chase (“Stars shine over a yellow moon, two hearts are united while angels sing love songs. “) This version made it to number 18 on the Billboard charts.
literature
- Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits , Billboard Publications New York 1988, p. 82, ISBN 0-8230-7545-1 .
swell
- ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 444 .