I blogged about this a couple of years ago, but as I was on my run tonight (four miles), my iPod shuffled to the mp3 I made from my scratchy vinyl copy of the Flamingo Kid soundtrack, and I knew what my latest post should be. Most of my music-related posts are born in just this way. "Stranger on the Shore" is a song worthy of being featured here at my little endeavor again. And I'll probably get just as much of a response as I did last time -- NONE! Ha, ha! Has there ever been a recording so haunting, beautiful and achingly sad?? I don't think so. And being a Frank Sinatra nut, brother/sister, I've listened to a lot of haunting, beautiful and achingly sad stuff....This is the best version I could find of the original 1962 recording by Mr. Acker Bilk:
From the Wikipedia entry:
"Stranger on the Shore" is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk for his young daughter and originally named "Jenny" after her. It was subsequently used as the theme tune of a BBC TV drama serial for young people entitled "Stranger on the Shore."
The track, performed by Bilk (as "Mr. Acker Bilk") with backing by the Leon Young String Chorale, was released as a single on Columbia Records in October 1961, with the label of the single openly proclaiming "Theme from the BBC TV Series." The B-side was "Take My Lips". The single became a phenomenal success, topping the NME singles chart and spending nearly a year on the Record Retailer Top 50. It is the UK's biggest-selling instrumental single of all time, and appears fifty-eighth in the official UK list of best-selling singles issued in 2002.
On May 26, 1962, "Stranger on the Shore" became the first British recording to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, but it was quickly followed, on December 22, by The Tornados' "Telstar", another instrumental. After "Telstar", the first British performers topping the U.S. charts were The Beatles, with their first Capitol Records single "I Want to Hold Your Hand". "Stranger on the Shore" was Billboard's Number one single of 1962.I guess that means Acker, sorry, Mr. Acker Bilk kicked off the British Invasion of the 1960s!
I wasn't aware there were lyrics, but I've always felt there just had to be. Sho' 'nuff, there are. By Robert Mellin:
So all alone and blue
Just dreaming dreams of you
I watched your ship as it sailed out to sea
Taking all my dreams
And taking all of me
The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"
Why, oh, why must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore?
The sighing of the waves
The wailing of the wind
The tears in my eyes burn
Pleading, "My love, return"
Why, oh, why must I go on like this?
Shall I just be a lonely stranger on the shore?
Andy Williams recorded a version with the lyrics, which was released two months after Bilk's. Here is a version Patti Page did, which for some reason someone has dubbed in this scene from Das Boot:
What kind of a name is Acker Bilk?
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous piece of music! Thank you bfor posting about this, I love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm always a bit confused about the first British US number one claim. I've heard it claimed for various records.
ReplyDeleteFor example, re Telstar:
The record was an immediate hit after its release, remaining in the UK pop charts for 25 weeks, five of them at number one, and in the American charts for 16 weeks. "Telstar" was the first U.S. number one by a British group. Up to that point, and since World War II, there had only been three British names that topped the U.S. chart: in May 1962 "Stranger on the Shore" by clarinetist Mr. Acker Bilk; the second was "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" by Laurie London (1958), whilst the first was "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" by Vera Lynn (1952).So I'm none the wiser.
What kind of a name is Acker Bilk?What kind of name is Axl Rose?
ReplyDeleteThe Wikipedia quote was for the biggest selling British single of all time. I don't think it said anything about the first British single to reach #1, so "Telstar" must be the one.
ReplyDelete"Acker Bilk" is a bit odd. And that's a stage name! "Bernard Stanley Bilk" is what his parents named him...
"Acker" is Somerset dialect for "friend". (Mr Bilk was born in the county of Somerset, UK)
ReplyDelete