A Classic Love Song: "Unchained Melody"

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     Today we join the "Monday's Mewsic Moves Me(4M)" group of bloggers. The theme for this Monday is love songs. Hop along to the next blog after you read my post. (Sorry, I'm running a day or so late finishing up this post,because I'm under the weather.)

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     Before our current love songs-like "Señorita" or  "Crazy In Love"- became popular, there was a classic love song called "Unchained Melody." The song has been recorded and sung several times over the past 6 decades by various musicians; from lesser known singers- like Todd Duncan and Robson & Jerome- to more popular- The Righteous Brothers, Sam Cooke, Elvis, Gareth Gates, LeAnn Rimes, Susan Boyle, Clay Aiken, and many more.  A few videos of these artists' performances of this love song are scattered below; and more are included in the embedded YouTube playlist, which also contains the songs mentioned at the top of the post.

 

 

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           This love song was penned by Alex North and Hy Zaret for a movie called Unchained in 1954. It was actor Todd Duncan who was the first to sing Unchained Melody in the movie, which took place in a prison setting . Unchained Melody was nominated for an Oscar, but another tune from the same film won. 
          A more recent film, Ghost, is probably the most familiar to use this ballad in the story-line.  Swayze stars as a murder victim who tries to warn his girlfriend, portrayed by actress Demi Moore, that she could be in peril. When Swayze's character cannot reach Moore's, he uses a psychic(Whoopi Goldberg). The film has moments that are; scary, funny, touching, sad, and romantic. The romantic moment that features today's song involves Swayze-as the titled character - guiding his girlfriend as she is working on a potter's wheel to mold clay. The song is recorded by the Righteous Brothers(RB), originally in 1965, slightly altered by RB singer, Bobby Hatfield. Ghost was filmed in the 1990's.

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  Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody ('Ghost' Soundtrack) - YouTube

      This song also had been recorded by The Drifters, who also are featured in the Ghost soundtrack.

 The Drifters- Unchained Melody

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      In 1994, a pair of actors-who became a popular British musical twosome after singing this ballad on the television series Soldier, Soldier. This twosome was Robson & Jerome(R& B) and their recording of Unchained Melody soon topped the British charts. It was Simon Cowell-from American Idol, America's Got Talent, and Britain's Got Talent - who strongly urged Robson and Jerome to record the song.

 Robson & Jerome - Unchained Melody (Official Video)

 

 

 

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       In the early 2000's, reality talent show stars Clay Aiken, Gareth Gates, Susan Boyle, and Mike Yung are among the vocalists to record this romantic song. Yung was a subway performer before he was on television. Clay was a college student, preparing to become a special education teacher before Idol. Clay performed this song during competition and later recorded it on his Tried and True cd and on Steadfast.

 

 

Subway Performer Mike Yung - Unchained Melody (23rd Street Viral Sensation)

 

          Clay Aiken - Unchained Melody

 

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     I hope you find this review of Unchained Melody pleasurable. Whether you are single or coupled during this Valentine month, I'm sure that you'll agree that this is a classic love song. Whose performance is your favorite? If you liked this post, please drop a comment below and share it on social media. Thank you!

Here is the Unchained Melody playlist  ;

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Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
Photo by Bent Hertema on Unsplash
Photo by Javiera Argandoña on Unsplash
Clay photo: Author: Judy Butler Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8436547@N08/

Edited with PicsArt

 

 

 

  See also: Sunday's Song: "Unchained Melody."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday's Song 5: "Unchained Melody"

       Whenever I hear the song "Unchained Melody," I think of a certain movie scene of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore at the pottery wheel in Ghost.  I imagine that you do, too.

       This song was recorded in 1955 for a movie called Unchained. Alex North and Hy Zaret were the songwriters. Todd Duncan was the first to record it, but many others-including Clay- have performed and recorded it since then. One of the most popular versions was recorded by The Righteous Brothers. There are about 500 recordings of the song, but not all were successful.   You can get Clay's version on his Tried and True Album. It and the Righteous Brothers can be found in the videos below and on this photo link to the Sunday's Song playlist on Spotify.

This is a screenshot taken from an optical disc, television broadcast, web page, computer software or streaming media broadcast. Copyright holder: Paramount Pictures, Fair use, Link

Clay Aiken- American Idol- Unchained Melody

Clay Aiken "Unchained Melody" T&T - Waukegan

Righteous Brothers-Ghost Soundtrack

Here are the links to the rest of the #sundayssong series ; 
 Sunday's Song:"I Believe We Can" , Sunday's Song # 2 : "Build Me Up Buttercup" , 
Sunday's Song # 3: "Always and Forever" and Sunday's Song # 4: "This Is The Night".