How one song appeared in the singles chart four times in a week
No song is dead the minute it slides off the charts. There are always going to be deep cuts that are celebrated even if they never reach the hit parade, and it’s possible for any tune or record to have a second wind once it’s used in a different context. Most people might not realise a hit’s potential until years after its release, but sometimes the best songs get back on the charts by having someone else reinterpret what they’re doing.
Then again, doing a cover song in the modern age is usually a kiss of death for any performer. It’s one thing to be able to do justice to a great song on the charts, but if anyone starts their career making a cover, there’s always going to be a stigma around them. But by the time people heard the song ‘Unchained Melody’, they were listening to one of the greatest melodramatic love songs of all time.
And no, melodramatic is by no means a bad thing in this case. Even if the tune doesn’t have the most thoughtful lyrics in the world, everyone knows what it’s like to love someone more than life itself, and when it first debuted in the movie Unchained, everyone had free rein to do what they wanted with the track.
Where most singers have those standard songs to show off their skills these days, this was the go-to for how someone should sell any kind of romantic tune. While the magic hasn’t been lost on anyone since The Righteous Brothers did their iconic version in 1965, the song had already been a mainstay on the charts since the 1950s, eventually snagging a spot on the charts four times among four different artists.
So, how did ‘Unchained Melody’ get on the charts four times?
It’s easy for someone to boost their chart position these days by coming out with different remixes of the same track, but Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young and Liberace all had completely different takes on the tune when they came out in 1955. And for a brief moment in May, each one of them occupied part of the top 20, which would have been a dream come true for fans or torture for everyone getting tired of the song.
But why would anyone in their right mind send the same song to the top of the charts four separate times? Well, let’s take a look at what each of them has to offer. Liberace’s version is perfectly tasteful with a fantastic string arrangement, while Hibbler’s is far more rustic by comparison, having a bit more of an R&B flair and putting some growl into his voice. On the other hand, Baxter’s version is basically the muzak version of the original that doesn’t discount the arrangement he puts behind it, either.
As someone who grew up on the iconic version by the Righteous Brothers, it’s almost surreal looking back at what the original version of the tune was intended to be, though. ‘Unchained Melody’ has become one of the most covered songs of all time, but listening to the way that Bobby Hatfield sings it, it’s impossible to think of anyone else wrapping their voice around the melody, using the perfect amount of restraint and power whenever he goes for one of the high notes.
But the fact that every one of these renditions is some degree of good is a testament to the melody behind everything. Anyone can put as many bells and whistles around a tune as they want to make it their own, but as long as they have the core pieces of the song in order, there’s hardly any way to go wrong.
