Pop Standards
In July of 1966 the kids’ favorite pop stations were also popular with Mom & Dad. Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” had hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was “in heavy rotation” (played at least once every three hours.) The record would go on to win four Grammys the next year.
“Strangers in the Night” was released in April 1966 and soon went to the top of Billboard’s Easy Listening Chart. It surprisingly crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 eclipsing hits by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield. Its success spawned the creation of a Frank Sinatra “Strangers in the Night” LP which became Sinatra’s most successful album, selling over a million copies (RIAA certified Platinum).
The music for “Strangers in the Night” was credited to Bert Kaempfert (although there have been several legal battles over authorship). Kaempfert featured the melody in his score for a film “A Man Could Get Killed.” Lyrics were added later by lyricists Eddie Snyder and Charles Singleton.
The most memorable feature of the record is Sinatra’s famous “Doo be Doo be Doo” during the fade-out. This hook gave Sinatra’s career and personal mystique a much-needed boost. However, Old Blue Eyes was not entirely pleased. You see, he hated the song and referred to it as “the worst #$@%%& song I have ever heard.” However, as much as he hated it, the record gave Sinatra his first number one song in eleven years, and it stayed on the charts for fifteen weeks.
