Ben E King - Spanish Harlem - 1961 |
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"Spanish Harlem" is a song released by Ben E. King in 1961 on Atco Records, written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector. The song was King's first hit away from The Drifters, a group he had led for several years. With Spanish guitar, marimba, and drum-beats, the song climbed the Billboard charts, eventually peaking at #15 at R&B and #10 at Pop. It was later ranked #349 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Aretha Franklin released a cover version of the song in the summer of 1971 which outperformed the original on the charts, charting #1 R&B for three weeks and #2 Pop for two weeks. Aretha Franklin's version earned a gold single for sales of over one million. Dr. John played keyboards on Franklin's version. This version, more intense than the original, hit #6 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. Franklin also changed the lyric slightly, from "A red rose up in Spanish Harlem" to "The rose is black in Spanish Harlem." The song was also covered by The Mamas and The Papas in 1966, Slim Smith in 1968, and Kenny Rankin in 2002. It has also been covered by Willy DeVille, Leon Russell, The Cats, Geoff Love, Percy Faith, Janet Seidel, Chet Atkins, Laura Nyro, Rebecca Pidgeon, Neil Diamond, Cliff Richard, Bowling for Soup, Tom Jones and Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass [1] |
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