One of the most recorded songs of the past -- years, perhaps the first thing to consider is what's up with the song title? Ask someone if they like the song Unchained Melody and the most common answer is "Unchained what?" Then as soon as they hear the first few seconds of the song they say "oh. that song!" So where does the name of the song come from? In 1954 film composer Alex North was retained to provide music for a film in production called Unchained. He composed the musical theme for the film and it was simply titled Unchained Melody. Unchained was a prison film starring former football great Elroy 'Crazy Legs' Hirsch. Barbara Hale also starred in the film before becoming famous for her longtime role in Perry Mason.
During production of the film it was decided to do a scene with a prisoner singing a lyric to the theme and Hy Zaret wrote the lyrics and Todd Duncan, the famous baritone opera star, got the role as the singing prisoner. In 1935 Todd was George Gershwin's personal choice for the role of Porgy when Porgy & Bess first opened. He went on to do over 1800 performances as Porgy. The song was short, a single verse only lasting a minute, but when the film was released on January 19, 1955 it obviously made a big impact. If you search youtube 'Unchained Melody Todd Duncan' you can view the clip from the movie or listen below.
The first recording of Unchained Melody may have been done by Les Baxter & His Orchestra. A big hit in early 1955, Les lengthened the song for record and airplay by opening it with a chorus repeatedly singing "unchain me" (the only time the word 'unchain' has been used in the song) followed by a very lush orchestra instrumental run through the verse and then repeating the verse with a male chorus.
On March 15, 1955, the song was recorded by June Valli with a big orchestra giving it a boléro treatment (!). Somewhat unique and never repeated to the best of my knowledge. To lengthen the song June simply same the verse twice with an instrumental/chorus break in between.
Around the same time Les and June were cutting the song, so was Al Hibbler. Al had a big hit with it and introduced a new bridge with lyrics that became standard for the song. Now, between the verse being sung twice, was the part "Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea, to the open arms of the sea / Lonely rivers sigh wait for me, wait for me, I'll be coming home, wait for me!" Al's emphasis on the "d" in God has also been repeated by many other singers.
Meanwhile, the song found it's way across the Atlantic where Jimmy Young's recording was a big hit in England. Legendary music publisher Dick James also recorded the song in England in 1955.
Also recording the song in 1955 were Cab Calloway, Liberace, guitarist and RCA exec Chet Atkins (who recorded the song several times), The Crew Cuts, Leroy Lovett, Perry Como and Harry Belafonte, but the last 1955 recording to be featured here is, to me, the definitive recording of Unchained Melody and that was done by Roy Hamilton. Roy's unique phrasing of the lyrics has been (shall we say) 'inspiring' to many other singers since, most notably Bobby Hatfield.
