"Stranger in Paradise" is a

popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

song from the musical '' Kismet'' (1953), credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like almost all the music in that show, the melody was taken from music composed by Alexander Borodin (1833–1887), in this case, the "Gliding Dance of the Maidens", from the ''

Polovtsian Dances The Polovtsian Dances, or Polovetsian Dances ( rus, Половецкие пляски, Polovetskie plyaski from the Russian "Polovtsy"—the name given to the Kipchaks and Cumans by the Rus' people) form an exotic scene at the end of act 2 of Alex ...

'' in the opera ''

Prince Igor ''Prince Igor'' ( rus, Князь Игорь, Knyáz Ígor ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue, written and composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the Ancient Russian epic '' The Lay of Igor's Host'', which re ...

'' (1890). The song in the musical is a lovers' duet and describes the transcendent feelings that love brings to their surroundings. Later versions were mostly edited to be sung by male solo artists.

Meaning

In Act 1 of the musical ''Kismet'', the beautiful Marsinah is viewing the garden of a house her father wishes to buy. The young

Caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

, who is dressed in disguise, has already been struck by her beauty from afar and enters the garden pretending to be a gardener, so that he might speak to her. She begins to sing about how the garden has been strangely transformed before her eyes. He takes over the song and sings about how he, too, strangely feels he has entered paradise when he stands beside an angel such as she. In the song he asks for an indication that she feels the same way about him. Though she feels a strong draw to him she breaks from the song and asks him a mundane question about what flowers to plant. He asks her to meet him again in the garden at moonrise, and she instantly agrees. He asks her to promise she'll keep her rendezvous, and she now takes up the song, singing that it was his face that had made her feel in paradise. They now sing together that they are in bliss in each other's company and how much they need to know the other cares. Full duet version in the 1955 by MGM movie.

Notable performances

A popular adaptation of Borodin's theme from "Prince Igor" called "My Fantasy" which used the same melody as "Stranger in Paradise" was recorded by

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

and sung by Pauline Byrne in 1940, though the lyrics differ completely from "Stranger in Paradise."

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...

and

Doretta Morrow Doretta Morrow (January 27, 1927 – February 28, 1968) was an American actress, singer and dancer who appeared in stage and television productions during the 1940s and 1950s. She is best remembered for having created roles in the original pro ...

performed the song in the original cast of ''Kismet'' (1953).

Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and ...

and Ann Blyth performed the song in the 1955 film. The most popular version was sung by

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

(1953), but other versions by

The Four Aces The Four Aces are an American male traditional pop quartet popular since the 1950s. Over the last half-century, the group amassed many gold records. Its million-selling songs include " Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", " Three Coins in the Fo ...

(backed by the Jack Pleis Orchestra) and Tony Martin also received popular favor in 1953. Bennett's version reached

number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in May 1955. It was not until 1955 that ''Kismet'', and thus the songs from the show, came to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was Bennett's debut

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The huge popularity of "Stranger in Paradise" in the UK is reflected by the fact that no fewer than six versions charted in 1955: besides the chart topper by Tony Bennett, others include the versions by

the Four Aces The Four Aces are an American male traditional pop quartet popular since the 1950s. Over the last half-century, the group amassed many gold records. Its million-selling songs include " Love is a Many-Splendored Thing", " Three Coins in the Fo ...

(No. 6), Tony Martin (No. 6), Bing Crosby (No. 17),

Don Cornell Don Cornell (born Luigi Francisco Varlaro; April 21, 1919 – February 23, 2004) was an American singer. Early years Born to an Italian family in The Bronx, New York, Cornell attended Roosevelt High School in the Bronx. Career In his teens he pl ...

(No. 19), as well as an instrumental version by

Eddie Calvert Albert Edward "Eddie" Calvert (15 March 1922 – 7 August 1978) was an English trumpeter, who enjoyed his greatest success in the 1950s. Between 1953 and 1958, Calvert achieved seven instrumental hits on the UK Singles Chart, including two ch ...

(No. 14) in the UK chart listings. In the same year, the song was recorded in France by

Gloria Lasso Rosa Vicenta Montserrat Coscolín Figueras (28 October 1922 – 4 December 2005) known professionally as Gloria Lasso was a Spanish-born canción melódica singer, long based in France. In the 1950s, she was one of the major competitors to Dali ...

as ''Étranger au paradis''. Billy Eckstine with the

Hal Mooney Hal Mooney, born Harold Mooney (February 4, 1911 – March 23, 1995), was an American composer and arranger. Early life and career Hal Mooney was born in Brooklyn, New York. As a young man, Mooney was a professional pianist. He attended Brook ...

Orchestra,

Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

Peter Bernstein (guitarist) Peter Andrew Bernstein (born September 3, 1967) is an American jazz guitarist. Biography Born in New York City on September 3, 1967, Bernstein began playing piano when he was eight but switched to guitar when he was thirteen, learning the inst ...

, Sarah Brightman,

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

Percy Faith Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian-American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listeni ...

, Al Hirt,Al Hirt, ''Trumpet and Strings''
Retrieved April 8, 2013. Engelbert Humperdinck,

Gordon MacRae Albert Gordon MacRae (March 12, 1921 – January 24, 1986) was an American actor, singer and radio/television host who appeared in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals ''Oklahoma!'' (1955) and '' Carousel'' (1956) and who p ...

, Johnny Mathis, Keely Smith, Ray Conniff, Curtis Counce, Isaac Hayes,

the Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ac ...

, Jack Jones,

Mantovani Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 29 March 1980) was an Anglo-Italian conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' sta ...

Martin Denny Martin Denny (April 10, 1911 – March 2, 2005) was an American pianist and composer best known as the "father of exotica." In a long career that saw him performing up to 3 weeks prior to his death, he toured the world popularizing his brand of l ...

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

André Rieu André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (; is a Dutch violinist and conductor best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra. Rieu and his orchestra have turned classical and waltz music into a worldwide concert touring act. He r ...

, Saint Etienne,

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter and singer. He is the host of the BBC One game show '' Pointless'', as well as the morning show on Classic FM. He is ...

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 ...

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successf ...

Della Reese Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...

Lenny Welch Leon "Lenny" Welch (born May 31, 1938) is an American MOR and pop singer. Early years He was born in New York City, United States, and raised in Asbury Park, New Jersey, by his godparents, Eva and Robert Richardson. He attended Asbury Park ...

and

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar and whistl ...

are among the other artists who have recorded

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of this standard.

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...

has performed the song live. In 1965,

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...

released their version of the song, renamed "The Stranger" and "Ten Seconds To Heaven". An instrumental arrangement of the song is used in the 1979

Russ Meyer Russell Albion Meyer (March 21, 1922 – September 18, 2004) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, and editor. He is known primarily for writing and directing a series of successful sexploitation films that fea ...

movie ''

Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens ''Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens'' is a 1979 satirical sexploitation film directed by American film-maker Russ Meyer and written by Roger Ebert and Meyer. It stars Kitten Natividad and Ann Marie with a cameo by Uschi Digard. Plot The mo ...

''. In the film ''

Breakfast of Champions ''Breakfast of Champions, or Goodbye Blue Monday'' is a 1973 novel by the American author Kurt Vonnegut. His seventh novel, it is set predominantly in the fictional town of Midland City, Ohio, and focuses on two characters: Dwayne Hoover, a Midl ...

'' (1999), based on the book of the same name by

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

, the song is used as a recurring motif. In the 2001 anime series ''

RahXephon is a Japanese anime television series created and directed by Yutaka Izubuchi. The series follows 17-year-old Ayato Kamina, his ability to control a mecha known as the RahXephon, and his inner journey to find a place in the world. His l ...

'' the song is used as a recurring motif. In 2011,

rerecorded the song as a duet with

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fr ...

for Bennett's album '' Duets II''. Also in 2011, the anime ''

Appleseed XIII is a 2011 Japanese CGI anime adaptation of Masamune Shirow's science fiction manga series '' Appleseed''. Composed of 13 episodes, the series retold the exploits of E-S.W.A.T. member Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos. The series was ...

'' used instrumental versions of the song for both its starting and ending themes. In 2018,

Jun'ichi Kanemaru is a Japanese voice actor and singer employed by 81 Produce as of 2020. His roles included Hayato Kazami in ''Future GPX Cyber Formula'', Ryo Akiyama in ''Digimon Tamers'' and Sonic the Hedgehog in the eponymous series since 1998. He came in ei ...

recorded a cover of the song for his namesake EP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stranger in Paradise (song) 1953 songs 1954 singles The Four Aces songs Songs from musicals Songs written by Robert Wright (writer) Songs written by George Forrest (author) UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in the United States Popular songs based on classical music