Monday, September 04, 2017

AccuRadio Song of The Day-Henry Mancini

Artist:Henry Mancini
Song:Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet
Album:Midnight, Moonlight & Magic: The Very Best Of Henry Mancini




Henry Mancini is one of the greatest film composers in history. Occasionally his music would chart. He had one number one hit in his entire career. Was it Peter Gunn? I don't think Mancini's recording was ever released as a single. Ray Anthony's version was a top ten hit. Was it Moon River? Mancini's recording reached #11 and of course it is Andy Williams' signature song. Was it The Pink Panther? That reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mancini's only #1 hit was his 1969 recording of A Time For Us or Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet. The unusual thing was Mancini didn't write this song. It was composed for Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet by Nino Rota. Rota is a legend to film music fans. He is best known for scoring The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. Though it was unusual for Mancini to record other composers, it was not unprecedented. He was under contract to RCA Records for over twenty years. He recorded all kinds of albums. Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet is from the 1969 album A Warm Shade Of Ivory. The album is supposed to feature Mancini's piano stylings with an orchestra and chorus. Most of the songs were written by others including Windmills Of Your Mind and By The Time I Get To Phoenix. Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet was released as a single. It started getting airplay on easy listening radio and then it crossed over to pop despite objections from radio station program directors who thought it was too soft. The record topped the Billboard Hot 100 June 1969 and it topped the easy listening chart for two months. I'm sure no one was more surprised than Henry Mancini. You can get it on this budget comp. Mancini's other hit after this was his 1971 recording of Francis Lai's theme from Love Story which reached #13. But for the most part, Mancini returned to scoring film and TV and recording albums for RCA. Any chart success was gravy. Here's a video for Love Theme From Romeo And Juliet by Henry Mancini.

3 comments:

  1. I love Henry Mancini. I grew up listening to his music. "Moon River" and the love theme from "Romeo and Juliette." are some of my favorites. Another is "Tomorrow is my Friend". I have many of his musical pieces in my collection and still listen to them. He is a truly great composer.

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  2. Tomorrow Is My Friend is from the 1969 film Gaily, Gaily.

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  3. Frank, thank-you so much for that information. I really appreciate it. Yours Defshepard.

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