Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is one of the most recorded songs of the
20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions.[
1] One week in the
1950s saw no less than four different
cover versions in the
British charts alone. The
Guinness Book of British Hit Singles lists
Jimmy Young,
Les Baxter,
Al Hibbler and
Liberace in May and June
1955.
The music was written by renowned
film composer Alex North as a theme for the now obscure
1955 prison film
Unchained, the lyrics by
Hy Zaret. They tell of a prisoner's anguished longing for his wife. (Note: the song was originally written, lyrics first, by William Stirrat, aka Hy Zaret, in 1936 at summer camp, in an attempt to woo a girl named Mary Louise "Cookie" Pierce. At this same camp Stirrat met Alex North and begged him to write a melody for his words. They wanted Bing Crosby, North's neighbor at the time, to sing the song. It took them until 1955 to get Al Hibbler to sing it and in that year it was finally released and reached the top 30 by four different artists.)
Les Baxter recorded it for the film's soundtrack (it was also released as a single,
Capitol Records catalog number 3055, and reached #1 on the
Billboard charts), and it was very soon after recorded by
Al Hibbler (
Decca Records catalog number 29441) that topped out at #3.
Roy Hamilton's version (
Epic Records catalog number 9102) reached #6, while
June Valli took it to #29. The first hit version was by
Harry Belafonte, who also sang it at the
1956 Academy Awards. There is also an uptempo doo-wop version by
Vito & the Salutations.
Perhaps the best-known version is from
1965, credited to
the Righteous Brothers but performed as a solo by
Bobby Hatfield, who later recorded versions credited solely to himself. It climbed to #4.
"Unchained Melody" reappeared on the
Billboard charts in
1990, reaching #19, after
The Righteous Brothers' recording was used in the film
Ghost. In
2002,
Pop Idol runner-up
Gareth Gates released it as a single. In
2006, singer
Barry Manilow covered the song on his album
Greatest Songs of the Fifties, and it reached #20.
The song has uniquely been a UK number-one hit for four different acts:
Jimmy Young (
1955); the
Righteous Brothers (
1990);
Robson & Jerome (
1995);
Gareth Gates (
2002).
It was also sung on
Australian Idol by
Dan England on the
1960's night, and on
American Idol by
Clay Aiken during the Top 3 finals, as well as
Kellie Pickler on Love Songs Week.
It was sung by
Irish rock group
U2 after a perfomance of
One at 2004's
Live Aid.
*
Song information (
MPL Communications)
*
Unchained at the
Internet Movie Database* performed by The Righteous Brothers circa 1965
