It’s hard to picture Frank Sinatra following the Beatles as the next number one in 1966. Frank Sinatra was one of the greatest singers of all time. They call Elvis the king of rock and roll. I wonder what we should call Frank Sinatra. He’s known as The Chairman of the Board and by other nicknames, but he was truly a great singer.

The very first Billboard chart ever published was in 1940 and do you know what the number one song was on that first chart? “I’ll Never Smile Again” which was by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Frank Sinatra singing the vocals. So Frank was number one in 1940 and now, again in 1966, and he will hit number one again in 1980 with a duet with his daughter Nancy, “Something Stupid.”. That makes for a 40 year span between number ones. No one else has ever come close to that. And, he just kicked the Beatles out of the number one spot.

“Somewhere in the Night” was written by Bert Kaempfert, with English lyrics by Charlie Singleton and Eddie Snyder. Kaempfert wrote the song as an instrumental for a movie called A Man Could Get Killed. The song was produced by Jimmy Bowen who had a successful singing career before he became a producer. Bowen was Frank Sinatra’s producer and suggested that he record the song.

On the day that Frank was to record the song, Bowen got an orchestra together in the studio by 5:00 P.M. Frank arrived about three hours later which would have been about eight o’clock. By nine, he was done and the recording was in the can. It was released the very next day and radio stations were playing it within twenty four hours of it being recorded.

Frank won two Grammy Awards for “Strangers in the Night,” the award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Record of the Year.

Amazingly, Frank Sinatra did not like the song. In fact, he despised it, calling it the “worse song I have ever heard.” (I left out the expletive.) He hated singing it in live performance. But, since it became such a big hit, he was forced to. The song was placed on an album of Frank’s song and the album had the same name as the single, Strangers in the Night. The also went to number one on the album charts.

As you listen to the song, note the ending as Frank sings, “doo-be-doo-be-do.” I have to mention a joke that was on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: “If Ruby Dee married Frank Sinatra, she’s be Ruby Doo-be-do.” Ruby Dee was an American actress who worked in films for many years.

“Strangers in the Night” entered the pop charts on May 28, 1966 and spent just one week at number one.