Неокованая мелодия: История одной песни

1955 song by Alex North and Hy Zaret
the LeAnn Rimes album

"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film Unchained (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages. In 1955, three versions of the song (by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton) charted in the Billboard top 10 in the United States, and four versions (by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace) appeared in the top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously, a record for any song. North asked Hy Zaret to write the lyrics. After first refusing, Zaret and North together wrote "Unchained Melody." Zaret refused the producer's request to include the word "unchained" in his lyrics. William Stirrat, an electrical engineer, claimed to have written the lyrics as a teenager in 1936 under the pen name "Hy Zaret" only to have North use the uncredited words in the 1955 original. The case went to court and the dispute was resolved completely in favor of the real Zaret (the one born Hyman Zaritsky) who continued to receive all royalties. The words "unchain me" are sung repeatedly at the beginning and the lyrics are sung by a choir. Billboard ranked this version as the No. 5 song of 1955. Al Hibbler followed close behind with a vocal version (Decca Records catalog number 29441), that reached number 3 on the Billboard charts and number 2 in the UK chart listings. Jimmy Young's release (on Decca Records UK catalog number F10502) stayed at number 1 on the British charts for 3 weeks and remained on the UK charts for 19 weeks. Young re recorded the song in early 1964 and it hit number 43 in the UK. Two weeks after Young's version entered the top 10 of the British charts in June 1955, Liberace scored a number 20 hit (Philips PB 430). Roy Hamilton's version (Epic Records catalog number 9102) reached number 1 on the R&B Best Sellers list and number 6 on the pop chart. June Valli recorded the song on March 15, 1955 (RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20 6078) with the flip side "Tomorrow", and took it to number 29 on the Top Pop Records list. Harry Belafonte recorded the song, and sang his version at the 1956 Academy Awards after it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song of 1955. While the sheet music business was losing its prominence to sound recordings, a sheet music release of the song peaked at number 1 on its tenth week on the Billboard Best Selling Sheet Music chart on the week ending June 18, 1955. It stayed at its peak position for nine weeks until it dropped to number 4 on its twentieth week on the week ending August 27.

The best known version of "Unchained Melody" was recorded by the duo the Righteous Brothers for Philles Records in 1965. "Unchained Melody" was originally released as the "B" side of the single "Hung On You" as the follow up single to "Just Once in My Life". was so incensed by DJs choosing to play the B side that he started to call their radio stations to get them to stop playing "Unchained Melody". However, he failed, and the song reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 14 in the UK in 1965. "Unchained Melody" is written in the key of C major.

As Spector was not especially interested in producing b sides or album tracks he left the production to Bill Medley, Medley said: "Phil came to me and asked me to produce the Righteous Brothers albums because he would have taken too long and it would have cost too much money." By Medley's account, Spector only claimed production credit after it supplanted "Hung On You" as the hit. Early copies of the single did not credit a producer for "Unchained Melody" and only credited Spector as producer of the original single "Hung On You". Hatfield made a change to the song during the recording sessions. The first two takes of the song he performed it in the same style as Roy Hamilton. and a CD single. It received minimal airplay but sold well, peaking at number 19. The re recorded version was certified Platinum by the RIAA on January 10, 1991, and received a Grammy Award nomination. The 1965 original Righteous Brothers recording was reissued in 1990 by oldies reissue label Verve Forecast (which had acquired the rights years earlier). The original version received a lot of airplay, and topped the U. S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks in 1990. However, sales for this version were minimal in the US since it was available as only a 45 RPM single and the song peaked at No. 13 based largely on airplay. For eight weeks, both versions were on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously and the Righteous Brothers became the first act to have two versions of the same song in the Top 20 at the same time. This re released song reached number 1 in the UK where it stayed for four weeks, becoming the UK's top selling single of 1990. As of 2017, it had sold 1.17 million copies in the UK. The 1990 reissue also reached number 1 in Australia, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Due to the success of their re recording, the Righteous Brothers also re recorded other songs and released them as part of a budget priced CD compilation by Curb Records. For the original recordings, Polydor had licensed the CD rights to Rhino Records for a premium priced 1989 compilation of Righteous Brothers hits from various labels; later in 1990, it issued its own regular priced Righteous Brothers greatest hits CD that included the recording.

Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|title=Unchained Melody|artist=Righteous Brothers|award=Platinum|relyear=1990|certyear=1990|id=7873 451 1|salesamount=1,167,000|salesref= A single, based on this recording, was released in March 1978 by RCA Records with "Softly, As I Leave You" as the b side. The song reached No. 6 in the country charts of both the US and Canada, and was certified Gold by Music Canada on July 10, 1986. Another live version recorded earlier on April 24, 1977, at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was included in his last album Moody Blue. Both versions had studio overdubs with additional instruments added before they were released.

Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers of The Goons recorded a parody of the song, produced by George Martin, on June 29, 1955. It would have been the first single by the Goons but EMI refused to release it, fearing a lawsuit from its music publisher. The Goons later released an album titled Unchained Melodies with Decca, but without the actual song. The single was later released in 1990, and the song was then included in the 2007 compilation album titled Unchained Melodies – The Complete Recordings 1955 1978. In 1963, an uptempo doo wop version by Vito & the Salutations peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100; this version was used in the soundtrack for Goodfellas in 1990. David Garrick released a version which reached No. 14 in the Netherlands in 1968. Matt Monro released an LP album From Hollywood with Love, with track Unchained Melody in 1964. In 1975, Clem Curtis had a disco version which spent three weeks in the Record Mirror UK Disco Chart, peaking at no. 75. In 1979, George Benson recorded a version for the Warner Bros. Records album Livin' Inside Your Love. The single peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary (chart). In 1981, a live version performed by the band Heart, with lead vocals by Ann Wilson, peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1986, Leo Sayer released a version of the song with a contemporary reworking of the "wall of sound" production technique that included an unusual electric guitar solo near the climax. The single charted in the UK at No. 54. U2 covered the song as a B side to their 1989 single, "All I Want Is You", and included in their compilation album The Best of 1980–1990. They have performed the song live many times, including one captured on their 1993 concert film Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. Bono and The Edge also performed the song together with "One" for the charity 46664 Concert in tribute to Nelson Mandela held in Cape Town in 2003. Cyndi Lauper was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award for "Best Instrumental Composition Accompanying a Vocal" for her interpretation of the song, which appears on her 2003 studio album At Last. In 2006, singer Barry Manilow covered the song on his album The Greatest Songs of the Fifties and was released as a single. The song reached number 20 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In 2020, country singers Orville Peck and Paul Cauthen released a cover of the song under the name "The Unrighteous Brothers" along with a cover of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". In 2023, Lana Del Rey covered the song live on the "Christmas at Graceland" special. In 2023 (December 11), Angelina Jordan performed the song with KORK orchestra at Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi tribute.

"Unchained Melody" was the only song to have reached No. 1 in the UK in four different recordings on the official chart until it was joined by the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in its fourth re recording in 2014. It is the only song to have sold over a million by three separate acts in the UK – Robson and Jerome (1.87 million), Gareth Gates (1.35 million), the Righteous Brothers (1.17 million).

The song was nominated in 1956 for 1955's Oscar for best original song from the film Unchained. The re recorded version by the Righteous Brothers was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1991 in the best pop performance by a duo or group category, and their original version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000. The use of the Righteous Brothers' cover of "Unchained Melody" in the film Ghost resurrected the song's popularity as it was recognized as the "most played" song of 1992 by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). ASCAP also announced it to be one of the 25 most performed songs and musical works of the 20th century in 1999, and the most performed love song of the 1950s in 2003. In 2001, the song was ranked at No. 138 in the list of Songs of the Century released by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the Righteous Brothers version of the song at number 365 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2007, the Songwriters Hall of Fame honored "Unchained Melody" with a Towering Song award that is presented to creators of a song "that has influenced the culture in a unique way over many years."