All Alone Am I

"All Alone Am I" is a song from 1962 popularized by the American singer Brenda Lee. The song was originally composed by the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis and recorded in Greek by Tzeni Karezi for the soundtrack of the film To nisi ton genneon (The Island of the Brave); the original song in Greek is titled "Μην τον ρωτάς τον ουρανό" ("Min ton rotas ton ourano", translation: "Don't ask the sky"). Later, a new version of the song with English lyrics was produced by Owen Bradley and appeared as the title track on one of Lee's albums. The song is written in the key of F major, but begins on the sub-dominant B-flat Major 7th chord.

Chart success

"All Alone Am I" became a top 10 pop hit in both the US and the UK. The song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1962^[1] and number seven on the UK Singles Chart in February 1963.^[2] The song also spent five weeks atop the US Billboard easy listening chart in November and December 1962, Lee's only song to do so.^[3] The B-side to the single, "Save All Your Lovin' For Me", reached number 53 on the US pop chart.

Accolades

In 1960, the Greek film Never on Sunday was released to considerable acclaim, earning multiple Academy Award nominations in the US. The film's star, Melina Mercouri, was nominated for Best Actress, while the title song from the film won the Oscar for Best Original Song for Greek musician Manos Hatzidakis, who had composed the music used in the film. A melody that appeared in both Never on Sunday and The Island of the Brave was sent to Lee's management as a tune to be considered for the singer to record, and after being translated into English by Arthur Altman, became "All Alone Am I".^[3]

Covers

Grady Martin released an instrumental version in 1965 on his Instrumentally Yours album.^[4]

Isannide and H. Ithier composed a new French lyric for the song; the French version, C'est Joli la Mer, was recorded by several artists, such as Nana Mouskouri; as well Finnish singer Carola Standertskjöld recorded it (with some changes to the lyrics) for the soundtrack of the film The Cold Old Days in 1965.^[5] The movie won the Golden Rose of the Montreaux Film Festival.^[6]

Filipino singer-actress Nora Aunor, released a single of this song in 1971 and is part of her album Superstar Nora Aunor.

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1962 (U.S.)

References

External links

• Single release info from discogs.com

Brenda Lee
Albums	Grandma, What Great Songs You Sang! Brenda Lee This Is...Brenda Emotions All the Way Sincerely, Brenda Lee All Alone Am I ..."Let Me Sing" Brenda, That's All Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends
Other albums	The Winning Hand
Singles	"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" "One Step at a Time" "Let's Jump the Broomstick" "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" "Sweet Nothin's" "That's All You Gotta Do" "I'm Sorry" "I Want to Be Wanted" "Emotions" "You Can Depend on Me" "Dum Dum" "Fool #1 "Break It to Me Gently" "Speak to Me Pretty" "Everybody Loves Me But You" "Here Comes That Feeling" "Heart in Hand" "It Started All Over Again" "All Alone Am I" "Your Used to Be" "She'll Never Know" "Losing You" "I Wonder" "My Whole World Is Falling Down" "The Grass Is Greener" "As Usual" "Think" "Alone with You" "When You Loved Me" "Truly, Truly True" "Is It True" "Jingle Bell Rock" "Too Many Rivers" "Rusty Bells" "Coming on Strong" "Johnny One Time" "Let It Be Me" "Always on My Mind" "Sunday Sunrise" "Wrong Ideas" "Big Four Poster Bed" "Rock on Baby" "He's My Rock" "Tell Me What It's Like" "The Cowgirl and the Dandy" "Broken Trust"
Other singles	"Hallelujah, I Love You So" "America the Beautiful"
Songs	"Fly Me to the Moon" "The Letter" "Our Day Will Come"
Related topics	Discography Connie Francis Skeeter Davis Ricky Nelson Lesley Gore Red Foley Muruga Booker
Book:Brenda Lee