Hi,
Anyone have any idea why the song is called “Unchained Melody?” I’ve always wondered.
Thanks.
I do believe it’s because it was written for the 1955 movie Unchained.
Written for the 1955 film “Unchained.”
Ha ha! Beat ya!
As your reward, you must discover the origin of the 1943 cite for “serendipitous”. bwaahahahah!
In a letter of January 28, 1754, Horace Walpole says that “this discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word.”
Walpole got the word from an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He said that this name was part of the title of “a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as they traveled, they were always making accidental discoveries of things which they were not in quest of . . . you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for, comes under this description) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendon’s, found out the marriage of the Duke of York [who became James II] and Anne Hyde [Clarendon’s daughter], by the respect with which her mother treated her at table.”
(Not that this was hard to find with CD-ROM reference materials these days)
A little girl was in my wife’s office when “Unchained Melody” came over the sound system.
“Do you know what that song is?” asked the girl.
“Unchained melody,” answered the well-informed Mrs. Cal.
The little girl was offended. “That’s NOT Unchained Melody,” she said, indignant. “It’s the music from Ghost.”
She waited a moment, then said, “It was sad when Sam died. It was sad when he died again.”
Why thank you ever so much.
Dave, check this thread where we tried to figure out serendipitous as opposed to serendipity. An added bonus is that you get to see me make an ass of myself for not reading the OP correctly.
You might be interested to know that there’s a version by the Lettermen where they sing “Unchain me, unchain me” at the beginning of the song.