Strangers in the Night is a 1966 album by Frank Sinatra.
The album marked Sinatra’s return to #1 on the pop album charts in the mid-1960s, and it consolidated the comeback he started in 1966. Combining pop hits with show tunes and standards, the album creates a balance between big band and pop instrumentation. The single “Strangers in the Night“ also reached #1 on the pop single charts, while “Summer Wind“ would slowly become a classic, used for television commercials and mood-setting entrances by the 2000s.
At the Grammy Awards of 1967 Sinatra garnered two Grammy Awards for his efforts on this album, including the Record of the Year for the title track “Strangers in the Night“, as well as Best Male Vocal Performance for the same song. (He also won a further Grammy award that same year, the Album of the Year for A Man and His Music). Ernie Freeman’s arrangement of the title track won him the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist or Instrumentalist.
Strangers in the Night has been certified platinum for 1 million copies sold in the U.S. It is the only “regular“ Sinatra album to achieve this mark (the others to do so have been greatest hits/compilation albums, Christmas albums, or the end-of-career “Duets“ albums).
Also, this album has been released as a “Deluxe Edition“ on January 26, 2010. Including 3 bonus tracks (2 recorded tracks of “Strangers in the Night“ and “All or Nothing at All“ performed at the Budokan Hall from 1985, and an alternate take of “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby“).
“Strangers in the Night“ is a popular song written by Charles Singleton, Eddie Snyder and Bert Kaempfert. The prototype of the song is “Broken Guitar“ by Avo Uvezian. Bert Kaempfert bought the rights of the song for the film A Man Could Get Killed, which introduced the song “Strangers in the Night“. 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 would become his most commercially successful album. The song also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart.
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. This inspired the name for the cartoon canine Scooby Doo. Also the fading of the song was made too early, and many fans lament the fact that Sinatra’s improvisation is cut off too soon. Sinatra despised the song and called it “a piece of shit.“
lyrics
Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wond’ring in the night what were the chances
We’d be sharing love before the night was through
Something in your eyes was so inviting
Something in you smile was so exciting
Something in my heart told me I must have you
Strangers in the night
Two lonely people, we were strangers in the night
Up to the moment when we said our first hello little did we know
Love was just a glance away, a warm embracing dance away
and Ever since that night we’ve been together
Lovers at first sight, in love forever
It turned out so right for strangers in the night
Love was just a glance away, a warm embracing dance away
Ever since that night we’ve been together
Lovers at first sight, in love forever
It turned out so right for strangers in the night