About The Song
“Unchained Melody” is a song from 1955 composed by Alex North with lyrics by Hy Zaret. North created the music as a theme for the 1955 prison film Unchained, hence the title of the song. Todd Duncan provided the vocals for the film’s soundtrack. Over time, it has become a classic and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965. According to the song’s publishing administrator, there have been over 1,500 recordings of “Unchained Melody” by more than 670 artists in various languages.
In 1955, three versions of the song by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts in the United States. Simultaneously, four versions by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace appeared in the top 20 in the United Kingdom, setting a record for any song. The song continued to chart into the 21st century and held the distinction of being the only song with four different recordings to reach number one in the United Kingdom until it was matched by Band Aid 30’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 2014.
Out of the numerous recordings made, the version by the Righteous Brothers, featuring a solo by Bobby Hatfield, became the standard for jukeboxes after its release. Hatfield made changes to the melody in the final verse, influencing many subsequent covers of the song. The Righteous Brothers’ recording gained renewed popularity when it was featured in the 1990 film Ghost. In 2004, it secured the 27th position on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of the top tunes in American cinema.
In 1954, Alex North entered into a contract to compose the score for the 1955 prison film Unchained. Despite having a melody from the 1930s, North composed and recorded the score, later being asked to create a song based on the movie’s theme. Seeking lyrics for this new song, North approached Hy Zaret, who initially declined but eventually collaborated with North to create “Unchained Melody.” Interestingly, Zaret resisted the producer’s suggestion to incorporate the term “unchained” in the lyrics, and yet the song became known as “Unchained Melody” even though the word “unchained” is not present. Instead, Zaret focused on the theme of longing for a distant lover.
The film’s narrative revolves around a man contemplating whether to escape from prison and live as a fugitive or serve his sentence and return to his wife and family. The song features an unusual harmonic device, concluding the bridge on the tonic chord rather than the more typical dominant chord.
In the film, Todd Duncan, playing one of the prisoners, provides vocals for the soundtrack and performs a shortened version within the storyline. Accompanied by a fellow prisoner on the guitar, Duncan sings while other inmates listen with a sense of melancholy. Despite the nomination of the song for the 1956 Oscars, it lost the Best Song award to the popular “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing.”
A legal dispute arose when William Stirrat, an electrical engineer, claimed to have written the lyrics in 1936 under the pen name “Hy Zaret.” He alleged that North used the uncredited words in the 1955 original composition. The case was brought to court, and the resolution favored Zaret (the songwriter born Hyman Zaritsky, not Stirrat), who continued to receive all royalties.
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Lyrics
Oh, my love
My darling
I’ve hungered for your touch
A long, lonely timeAnd time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to meLonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea
Yes, lonely rivers sigh, “Wait for me, wait for me
I’ll be coming home, wait for me”Oh, my love
My darling
I’ve hungered, hungered for your touch
A long, lonely timeAnd time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?I need your love
I, I need your love
God speed your love to me