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Recently I heard a medley of songs by the French group Guitar Express (they sound marvelous!!) and in it was a vocal version of The Stranger, and it sounded great. I was wondering whether The Stranger was originally written as a vocal, which the Shadows played as an instrumental, like Dance On, or if it was just an idea by Guitar Express to make a vocal out of it.

Cheers,
Bojan

"Dance On!" was written by British vocal group the Avons as a vocal (the most famous version in the UK being by the late Kathy Kirby). It was turned into an instrumental by the Shadows and Bristol group the Eagles also turned in a fair version on their 1963 "Smash Hits" cover versions LP. "The Stranger" was written by Bill Crompton and Morgan Jones - who the Shads knew from their 2is days. I'm not aware of it being originally composed as a vocal song - just as Jerry Lordan never intended Sonny James to put words to "Apache"!

Rob

The Stranger has been added vocals (in French: "Toi l' étranger"), in the early sixties and became a hit by the French group :
Dick Rivers et les Chats Sauvages .

Jean

Rob and Jean, thanks for responding.

In the meantime I listened to this version by the Chats Sauvages on YouTube. Ricky Norton is singing the way they did, but I like the instrumental part much more by the Guitar Express because it sounds just like the Shadows. In any case, it's a terrific idea and I like it a lot.

Cheers,
Bojan

http://youtu.be/N2VaZk33FQM

The Stranger- Les Chats Sauvages.

Arpeggio wrote:Jerry Lordan never intended Sonny James to put words to "Apache"!

Yet it also had french lyrics, sung with an italian accent by "Orlando" (brother of "Dalida" who was an huge star in France) : http://www.4shared.com/mp3/x1imR_L5/Apa ... lando.html

Didier

captainhaddock wrote:http://youtu.be/N2VaZk33FQM

The Stranger- Les Chats Sauvages.

Les Chats Sauvages (The Wild Cats) was one of the most popular group in France during the early sixties. Their repertoire was partly based of French covers from Cliff & the Shads, such as this one (cover of "Theme for a dream") : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwl9iet0M7Q
Like many others, the group split when the singer (Dick Rivers) left for a solo career in 1962.

Didier

An interesting vocal version of Back Home was done by a British beat group
The Mark Leeman Five. Not on You Tube unfortunately,but it did come out
on a compilation album of their singles and unreleased tracks ,which Back
Home was an early demo they made.
Think it came out on the now defunct See For Miles Label a good number
of years back.

Mike

How about a cover version of "I can't forget" ? http://youtu.be/Wky3O5XgCPM

Entitled "La Maison du printemps" it was recorded by Tereza Kesovija.

captainhaddock wrote:http://youtu.be/N2VaZk33FQM

The Stranger- Les Chats Sauvages.

How quaint that their guitars were not in tune with one another