One of the most recorded songs in history, Strangers In The Night reached No 1 in the UK charts in June 1966 and remained there for three weeks. It had a complicated history, the melody having originally been written by a Croatian composer, Ivo Robic, for a song festival in Split. When it failed to impress, Robic sold the rights to the German bandleader and composer Bert Kaempfert for the spoof spy film A Man Could Get Killed. Although Snyder is credited with writing the English words with the lyricist Charles Singleton, he insisted that he also had a hand in the music; ultimately the song would appear to have been a joint production by all four.
Eddie Snyder
"We had the scene," Snyder recalled, "a man is sitting across from a girl in a bar. That was it." As Snyder remembered it, he, Kaempfert and Singleton spent two weeks at the piano perfecting Robic's song.
The number was first recorded as a single by the crooner Jack Jones in April 1966. Three days later Sinatra taped his own version in a bad-tempered session in which the singer rounded on Glen Campbell, who had been brought in at the last minute on guitar.
Campbell did not know the song and busked his way through the first take while listening to the tune. When Sinatra, who was accustomed to completing a record in a single take, was told he would have to sing it again, he glared at Campbell and shouted: "Is that guy with us or is he sleeping?"
On take two Sinatra himself added the famously inane "doo-bie-doo-bie-doo" improvisation at the end. In the original 1966 recording, this scat fades prematurely, but in a recently remastered version, listeners are treated to nine more seconds. So famous did the improvisation become that it reportedly inspired the name of the cartoon canine Scooby Doo.
Sinatra himself hated the song, and repeatedly offered expletive-filled invective when asked his opinion. He suggested that it was "about two fags [homosexuals] in a bar". Then, in 1975, he told an audience in Jerusalem: "Here's a song I cannot stand, but what the hell ... " Most bluntly, he once said: "It's the worst ------- song I ever heard."
Edward Abraham Snyder was born on February 22 1919 in New York City, studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music and worked for a time as a songwriter at the city's famous Brill Building, No 1619, Broadway.
The Brill building has been described as "the most important generator of popular songs in the Western world" and was later to churn out scores of songs that defined the Sixties.
It provided Snyder with the perfect training to embark on his career and he was soon in Florida, where he worked as a pianist in bars and hotels. He met his future wife, a nightclub singer, at one such gig in 1945.
His greatest success as a songwriter came from writing English lyrics to songs by European composers. In 1959 he submitted his song Talk To Me to Sinatra, whose recording of it reached No 20 – a flop in his terms. For the following seven years Sinatra turned down Snyder's songs, until Strangers In The Night.
It became one of the singer's biggest hits, earning him two Grammy awards. Snyder received a Golden Globe for best original film song.
"Strangers In The Night made a bum out of me," he admitted, "because I didn't have to work any more." The song has been performed an estimated four million times since the original Sinatra recording, and on disc has sold millions more.
Snyder also had a hit with the romantic ballad Spanish Eyes (sometimes called Blue Spanish Eyes), which was recorded by Al Martino in 1965 but lay dormant for eight years until charting in Britain. Also covered by Willie Nelson, the song was dashed off in 60 minutes. Snyder's other hits included 100 Pounds Of Clay, Remember When, Talk To Me and Bitter With The Sweet.
Eddie Snyder, who died on March 10, is survived by his wife, Jessie.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8419821/Eddie-Snyder.html
Edward Abraham Snyder was born on February 22 1919 in New York City, studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music and worked for a time as a songwriter at the city's famous Brill Building, No 1619, Broadway.
The Brill building has been described as "the most important generator of popular songs in the Western world" and was later to churn out scores of songs that defined the Sixties.
It provided Snyder with the perfect training to embark on his career and he was soon in Florida, where he worked as a pianist in bars and hotels. He met his future wife, a nightclub singer, at one such gig in 1945.
His greatest success as a songwriter came from writing English lyrics to songs by European composers. In 1959 he submitted his song Talk To Me to Sinatra, whose recording of it reached No 20 – a flop in his terms. For the following seven years Sinatra turned down Snyder's songs, until Strangers In The Night.
It became one of the singer's biggest hits, earning him two Grammy awards. Snyder received a Golden Globe for best original film song.
"Strangers In The Night made a bum out of me," he admitted, "because I didn't have to work any more." The song has been performed an estimated four million times since the original Sinatra recording, and on disc has sold millions more.
Snyder also had a hit with the romantic ballad Spanish Eyes (sometimes called Blue Spanish Eyes), which was recorded by Al Martino in 1965 but lay dormant for eight years until charting in Britain. Also covered by Willie Nelson, the song was dashed off in 60 minutes. Snyder's other hits included 100 Pounds Of Clay, Remember When, Talk To Me and Bitter With The Sweet.
Eddie Snyder, who died on March 10, is survived by his wife, Jessie.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8419821/Eddie-Snyder.html
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