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"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North used the music as a theme for the little-known prison film ''Unchained'', hence the name. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack.〔Robert Rodriguez, (The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels ), ''Brassey's'', p.90.〕 It has since become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers. By some estimates it has spawned nearly 700 versions in many different languages. In 1955, three versions of the song (Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, Roy Hamilton) charted in the ''Billboard'' Top 10 in the United States,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=500 Greatest Songs of All Time )〕 and four versions (Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young and Liberace) appeared in the Top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously, an unbeaten record for any song. It is also one of two songs to reach number one by four different artists in the UK.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Record Breakers and Trivia : Singles : Individual Hits : Number 1s )〕 Of the hundreds of recordings made, it was the July 1965 version by the Righteous Brothers, performed as a solo by Bobby Hatfield, that became a jukebox standard for the late 20th century. This version achieved a second round of great popularity when it was featured in the 1990 blockbuster film ''Ghost''. In 2004 it finished at number 27 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. ==Origin of song== In 1936, songwriter Alex North approached Bing Crosby with the still untitled song. Crosby turned the song down and it remained unrecorded for almost twenty years. In 1954, North and lyricist Hy Zaret were contracted to write a song as a theme for the prison film ''Unchained'',〔 "Lyricist behind Unchained Melody dies", CBC Arts, July 3, 2007, webpage: ( -->unchained-melody-obit.html Unchained-obit ). 〕 and their song eventually became known as the "Unchained Melody". The song does not actually include the word "unchained", and songwriter Zaret chose instead to focus his lyrics on someone who pines for a lover he has not seen in a "long, lonely time".〔 The 1955 film centers around a man who contemplates either escaping from prison to live life on the run, or completing his sentence and returning to his wife and family.〔 The song has an unusual harmonic device in that the bridge ends on the tonic chord, rather than the more usual dominant. With Todd Duncan singing the vocals,〔 the song was nominated for an Oscar in 1955, but the Best Song award went to the hit song "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Unchained Melody」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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