THE HIT HAMMER: Frank Sinatra's "Strangers In the Night"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer down below)

Frank Sinatra - "Strangers In the Night"

Hit Number 1: July 2, 1966

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

For the first time in a while, Frank Sinatra was back on top. One of the more successful artists of the 20th century, Sinatra had some success on the pre-Hot 100, but for the first few years after the Hot 100 was created, he never had a #1 hit. In fact, he hardly charted on the Hot 100 at all from 1958-1965. But in 1966, things started to change for him. When he first came on the music scene in the 1940s, he was a key figure in the big band/swing music era, but perhaps he's best known for his stint in the "Rat Pack" in the 1950s in Las Vegas along with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. (Sammy Davis Jr. will eventually appear in this blog. Dean Martin already did) But past his Rat Pack days, it took a while for him to achieve any serious chart success. Then came "Strangers In the Night".

It's unclear on who has the supreme authorship for "Strangers In the Night". There's some stories that claim it to be Avo Uvezian, an Armenian-American composer, who says he composed it for Sinatra while in New York after a mutual friend of theirs' wanted to introduce the two. Other accounts say that Bert Kaempfert (the one who brought us "Wonderland by Night" in 1961) was the prime writer/composer of the song. Even more accounts suggest that Croatian singer Ivo Robic was the writer/composer, and that he sold the rights to Kaempfert. It's extremely likely we'll never know who was telling the truth, and who had the biggest hand in writing the song. But whoever it was, apparently wrote the song for Melina Mercouri instead of Sinatra, but she turned it down after stating she thought a man's voice would suit the song better. It was then handed down to Sinatra.

Like many other songs around this time, members of the Wrecking Crew, a band of talented musicians who played on others' recordings, played on "Strangers In the Night". The song features drums by Hal Blaine and guitar playing by Glen Campbell, who will appear in this blog with his own #1 hits eventually. The song is probably noted for Sinatra's scat singing towards the end, with him singing "doo-be-doo-be-doo" along with other little scats here and there as the song fades out. That part just acts as fillers to me, and was something for Sinatra to do while the song was wrapping up. That part apparently inspired CBS executive Fred Silverman to rename the dog character from "Too Much" to "Scooby-Doo". It's really funny how things play out sometimes.

Some say that this song is Sinatra's best piece of work, but I don't know that I agree with that. It's a nice song, but mostly just acts as a piece of soothing easy-listening music to play as background music. There's some lush strings that back Sinatra's crisp and clean voice, and the song moves at a slow, steady pace. It is a pretty lovely song, all things told. But Sinatra was capable of more, as his song "My Way", a perfect piece of grand music, suggests. ("My Way" is a 10) Compared to "My Way", "Strangers In the Night" is nothing but your generic love song. A slow, pretty song about two lovers meeting each other one night. That's pretty much it.

Despite the success and royalties this song brought Sinatra, he absolutely hated it. He even at one point called the song "a piece of shit" and "the worst fucking song I've ever heard". That's particularly upsetting, since some say it's his signature song. Again, I'd have to disagree with that, but it's never a good look for someone to call their potential signature song a "piece of shit". "Strangers In the Night" isn't even close to being at that low of a level, but Sinatra was capable of more. Him and his daughter Nancy (the one who brought us "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" earlier) will both appear in this blog again, and at the same time.

GRADE: 7/10

10 ALERT!!!:

The Capitols' fun and somewhat bluesy throwback to pre-Beatles rock "Cool Jerk" peaked at #7 behind "Strangers In the Night". It's a 10.