Spanish Harlem (song)

"Spanish Harlem"
Single by Ben E. King
from the album Spanish Harlem
A-side"First Taste of Love" (original 1960 release)
B-side"First Taste of Love" (later releases)
ReleasedDecember 1960 (1960-12)
GenreSoul
Length2:53
LabelAtco
Songwriters
ProducerJerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Ben E. King singles chronology
"How Often"
(1960)		 "Spanish Harlem"
(1960)		 "Stand By Me"
(1961)

"Spanish Harlem" is a song recorded by Ben E. King in 1960 for Atco Records for his album of the same name. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. "Spanish Harlem" was King's first hit away from The Drifters, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the rhythm and blues chart.[1]

The song has been covered by a number of artists, including Aretha Franklin for her 1971 compilation Aretha's Greatest Hits, whose version reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was ranked number 358 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[2]

Background and recording

"Spanish Harlem" was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector, drawing inspiration from Maurice Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole and Claude Debussy's Ibéria.[3] Leiber later reflected, "I think that he learned a lot by just writing that song with me. By the choices that I made and what I told him to do, shade this and shade that, make this shorter and make that a shade longer, whatever."[3] The main riff was conceived by Spector and his then-girlfriend Beverly Ross; she was reportedly shocked to discover the riff a few months later in the version sung by Ben E. King.[4][5]

The arrangement was credited to Stan Applebaum, featuring Spanish guitar, marimba, drum beats, soprano saxophone, strings and a male chorus. King recorded the track during the same October 1960 session that yielded "Stand by Me".[3] The composition incorporated a marimba motif of descending triplets, later added by Mike Stoller,[3] which became central to the recording.[6] Leiber credited Stoller with the arrangement in a 1968 interview;[7] similarly, Leiber said in a 2009 radio interview with Leiber and Stoller on the Bob Edwards Weekend talk show that Stoller had written the key instrumental introduction to the record, although he was not credited. Stoller remarks in the team's autobiography Hound Dog that he had created this "fill" while doing a piano accompaniment when the song was presented to Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, with Spector playing guitar and Leiber doing the vocal. "Since then, I've never heard the song played without that musical figure."[7]

Release

Initially released as a B-side to Spector's co-written "First Taste of Love", "Spanish Harlem" gained traction after radio stations favored it, reaching number 10 on the charts in early 1961.[3] It became King's first hit away from the Drifters, a group he had led for several years. The track climbed the Billboard charts, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the rhythm and blues chart.[8] Though it was not a hit in the United Kingdom upon its initial release,[9] it was re-released in 1987, after the re-release of "Stand By Me" became a number 1 hit on the UK singles chart.[9]

Dalida version

"Harlem spagnolo"
Single by Dalida
from the album Loin de moi
A-side"No Dico No"
Released1961
Recorded1961
GenreSoul
LabelBarclay/Jolly
Songwriters
ProducerWalter Guertler
Dalida singles chronology
"Dix Mille Bulles Leues"
(1961)		 "Harlem spagnolo"
(1961)		 "Quando dormirai"
(1961)

In 1961, French singer Dalida performed a version in the Italian language, with lyrics by Carlo Da Vinci, on her album Loin de moi.[10]

Cliff Richard versions

Cliff Richard released his rendition on his 1962 album 32 Minutes and 17 Seconds. He also recorded a German version, titled "Das ist die Frage aller Fragen", with lyrics by Carl Ulrich Blecher, that was a number one hit in Germany and Austria in 1964,[11][12] as well as a number one hit in Switzerland in 1965.

Charts

Chart (1962–64) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[13]1
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[14]28
West Germany (GfK)[15]1

Aretha Franklin version

"Spanish Harlem"
Single by Aretha Franklin
from the album Aretha's Greatest Hits
B-side"Lean on Me"
ReleasedJuly 9, 1971
Recorded1971
GenreSoul
Length3:30
LabelAtlantic
Songwriters
ProducersJerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, Tom Dowd
Aretha Franklin singles chronology
"A Brand New Me"
(1971)		 "Spanish Harlem"
(1971)		 "Rock Steady"
(1971)

In July 1971, Aretha Franklin released a cover version of the song for her 1971 compilation Aretha's Greatest Hits that outperformed the original on the charts and in which Franklin changed the lyrics slightly: from "A red rose up in Spanish Harlem" to "There's a rose in Black 'n' Spanish Harlem. A rose in Black and Spanish Harlem.” Her version went to number one on the US soul charts for three weeks and number two on the Hot 100 for two weeks,[16] barred from the top spot by "Go Away Little Girl" by Donny Osmond.[17] This version also hit number six on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.[18] Aretha Franklin's version earned a gold single for sales of over one million. Dr. John played keyboards on Franklin's version with Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums and Chuck Rainey on bass.[19]

Charts

Chart (1971) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[20]4
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[21]25
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[22]5
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[23]1
UK Singles (Official Charts)[24]14
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[25]6
US Best Selling Soul Singles (Billboard)[26] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[27]2
West Germany (GfK)[28]6

Laura Nyro version

On her 1971 covers album Gonna Take a Miracle, singer-songwriter Laura Nyro performed a version with backing vocals by the group Labelle.[29]

Other recordings

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 325.
  2. ↑ "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. April 7, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Brown, Mick (2006). Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector. London: Bloomsbury. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-4000-4219-7.
  4. ↑ "Beverly Ross obituary". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  5. ↑ Ross, Beverly (2013). I Was the First Woman Phil Spector Killed. ISBN 9780988945913.
  6. ↑ Howard, David N. (2004). Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-634-05560-7.
  7. 1 2 Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 14 – Big Rock Candy Mountain: Rock 'n' roll in the late fifties. [Part 4] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
  8. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 325.
  9. 1 2 "The Official Charts Company - Spanish Harlem (song)". The Official Charts Company. May 3, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Dalida – No Dico No / Harlem Spagnolo". discogs.com. Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  11. ↑ "Cliff Richard & The Shadows: Spanish Harlem". Offizielle Deutsche Charts.
  12. ↑ "Cliff Richard - Das ist die Frage aller Fragen".
  13. ↑ "Cliff Richard – Das ist die Frage aller Fragen" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  14. ↑ "Cliff Richard & The Shadows – Spanish Harlem" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  15. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts (West Germany)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. To see the peak chart position, click 'TITEL VON', followed by the artist's name.
  16. ↑ Whitburn (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 215.
  17. ↑ "Top 100 Songs | Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
  18. ↑ Whitburn (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 97.
  19. ↑ Warner, Jennifer (September 24, 2014). Respect: The Life and Times of Aretha Franklin. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 31. ISBN 978-1502500007. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Aretha Franklin – Spanish Harlem" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  21. ↑ "Aretha Franklin – Spanish Harlem" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  22. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Image 7787". RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  23. ↑ "Aretha Franklin – Spanish Harlem" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  24. ↑ "Aretha Franklin Songs and Albums | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  25. ↑ "Aretha Franklin Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  26. ↑ "Aretha Franklin Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  27. ↑ "Aretha Franklin Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  28. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts (West Germany)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. To see the peak chart position, click 'TITEL VON', followed by the artist's name.
  29. ↑ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  30. ↑ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.