Stranger on the Shore

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“Stranger on the Shore”
cover art to the single
Single by Mr. Acker Bilk and the Leon Young String Chorale
B-side	"Take My Lips"
Released	October 1961
Format	7" 45rpm
Genre	Jazz
Label	Columbia/EMI DB4750 (UK) Atco 45-6217 (US)
Writer(s)	Acker Bilk

"Stranger on the Shore" is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk for his young daughter and originally named "Jenny" after her. It was subsequently used as the theme tune of a BBC TV drama serial for young people entitled Stranger on the Shore.^[1]

The track, performed by Bilk (as "Mr. Acker Bilk") with backing by the Leon Young String Chorale, was released as a single on Columbia Records DB 4750 in October 1961, with the label of the single openly proclaiming "Theme from the BBC TV. Series". The B-side was "Take My Lips". The single became a phenomenal success, topping the NME singles chart and spending nearly a year on the Record Retailer Top 50. It is the UK's biggest-selling instrumental single of all time, and appears fifty-eighth in the official UK list of best-selling singles issued in 2002.

On May 26, 1962, "Stranger on the Shore" became the first British recording to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 where is was issued by Atlantic Records on the Atco label, but it was quickly followed, on December 22, by The Tornados' "Telstar", another instrumental. After "Telstar", the first British performers topping the U.S. charts were The Beatles, with their first Capitol Records single "I Want to Hold Your Hand". "Stranger on the Shore" was Billboard's Number one single of 1962.

In May of 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 took a tape cassette of music that included "Stranger on the Shore" on their mission to the Moon. Gene Cernan, who was a member of the crew, included the tune on the cassette tape used in the command module of the Apollo spacecraft.

The composition has been covered by many other artists, most prominently a vocal version by Andy Williams, a group vocal version by the Drifters, and a soprano sax smooth jazz adaptation by Kenny G. It was also sampled (with a writer's credit for Bilk) on "A Melody From a Past Life Keeps Pulling Me Back" by The KLF on their album Chill Out, and on the track "Music For Libraries" by Way Out West.

The song was also featured in the soundtrack to Mr. Holland's Opus. This song was also featured in the 2001 movie The Majestic.

Preceded by "Soldier Boy" by The Shirelles	Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 26, 1962 (one week)	Succeeded by "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Ray Charles
Preceded by "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis	Billboard Hot 100 Number one single of the year 1962	Succeeded by "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs