Frank Sinatra had plenty of hits throughout his storied career. But he wasn't a fan of one classic tune that featured an early Glenn Campbell.
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That song was "Strangers in the Night," which blew up the charts in the 1960s. Sinatra was so against the song that he called it a "a piece of s***." It was also the title of his 1966 studio album as well. The track easily reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. However, Sinatra had a thing for hating songs that became too popular.
He ended up calling it "the worst f***ing song I've ever heard." Charles Pignone, Senior Vice President of Frank Sinatra Enterprises, says that Sinatra wasn't shy about his disdain for the tune.
"Yes, he said it many times, he was not a fan of the song," he said. "This is that innate ability of Frank of knowing what the audience wanted. It would come in and out of his repertoire, and a lot of times he would joke with the lyrics."
"He would say, 'I hate this song, I detest this song,' but he would do it because the people wanted to hear it. Yes, he said it many times, he was not a fan of the song. But this is that innate ability of Frank of knowing what the audience wanted."
"He would do that again in concert. It would come in and out of his repertoire, and a lot of times he would joke with the lyrics."
Frank Sinatra Hated Tune
According to Pignone, you can thank Jimmy Bowen, a record producer, for helping to share Sinatra's tune and making it popular. He resorted to some extraordinary measures to get the song airtime.
Pignone said, "They did the recording session, and then Jimmy actually pressed some acetates and sent them out to disc jockeys. He actually paid people or stewardesses in certain cities to take these acetates on a plane and then drop them off at a city to disc jockeys."
He added, "He was aware that Jack Jones had recorded the song, and it was going to come out in a specific time, and he wanted Frank to get airplay on it."
Sinatra may have hated the tune, but it ended up being a big early gig for Glen Campbell. The future icon featured on the tune as a session musician. Campbell had signed to Capitol Records in 1962. That's when he worked with Sinatra on the tune.
Campbell always had a good time working with Sinatra on music.
Campbell said, "I played on a lot of Sinatra sessions. He was simply awesome. He liked to laugh, and he could be one of the boys when he wanted. But he was also a very serious performer."
"When we cut 'Strangers In The Night,' we did the whole song in two takes. We were all in the studio together, Frank and the band. They spliced together the best bits of both versions for the final record," he recalled.
