There are songs cemented in history, tied to their time and anchored in their era. “Unchained Melody” is both of these things and, at the same time, isn’t. It’s very much a product of the 1950s, with its chord progressions and instrumentation. Yet, it became most popular ten years after it was written, when the Righteous Brothers released their version in 1965. The title is fitting. This song has legs and makes use of them. It has been covered and reinterpreted time and time again since its initial release, all those years ago.
First composed in 1954 by Alex North, the song was written for the feature film “Unchained,” which tells the story of a prison and the prisoners who inhabit it. Alex North had wanted to use the melody, which would be used in “Unchained Melody,” since the mid-1930s, and finally found a use for it in the film’s soundtrack.
He elicited the help of Hy Zaret to write the lyrics. Zaret would prove to be quite stubborn in the writing process and refused to use the word “unchained” in the song. Instead, he decided to focus the theme on a person pining over a lover they hadn’t seen in a long time and the loneliness that comes with that time apart. The result was subtle and open-ended enough to fit with the movie, without chaining it to the idea of someone serving in prison.
Zaret leaned into more widely applicable “prison of love” lyrics. This proved to be the right decision, as the song took off and was reinterpreted and re-released several times in the year following its appearance in the movie. Todd Duncan sang the first recorded version in a scene from the film, where he was accompanied by another prisoner on guitar while fellow downtrodden inmates listened on.
From that point on, the song would be recorded by different artists in various styles. Arrangements ranged from orchestral-choral to stripped-down, instrumental, and vocal versions. Ten years later, the Righteous Brothers—specifically Bobby Hatfield—did a solo version for their album after winning a coin toss with singing partner Bill Medley. Neither expected it to be a hit. It was a B-side to a song called “Hung on You.” DJs showed little interest in that track, but ironically fell in love with the B-side, “Unchained Melody.”
Over the years, the song jumped into and out of the charts. It returned to the Billboard Top 100 after being featured in the soundtrack for the movie Ghost. The song’s lasting impact can be attributed, in great part, to its emotionally charged lyrics and substantial build-up toward the end. In the Righteous Brothers’ version, this culminates in a dramatic climax, which most post-1965 versions would borrow from when recreating the song.
The version we are discussing today is by YouTube star Lucy Thomas. She has garnered tens of millions of views with her covers of popular songs, including modern pop hits and older classics like “Unchained Melody.” Her version pays homage to the Righteous Brothers’ take. Her vocals are angelic, clear, and stunning in their performance.
She lets her vocals do the heavy lifting for the first half of the song, only accompanied by simple piano lines. Lucy makes use of her wide range and control, taking long and flowing runs on long-sustained notes throughout each line.
The rest of the band abruptly kicks in halfway through, matching Lucy’s energy and filling the space left open in the first half. She keeps her vocals steady and consistent as the band finds its footing. Then, following Bobby’s lead, she sends her pitch to the top of her range. A heavenly falsetto carries the famous “I need your love” line that Hatfield’s version popularized sixty years before.
It’s one of the most beautiful expressions of a song that, on its own, can bring a tear to the eye, and her talent accelerates the emotional flames here, as it does in all of her covers. Her channel is filled with performances just as emotionally impactful and beautiful as this, including her version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which vocally follows Jeff Buckley’s popularized version of the song. One could spend hours browsing through Lucy’s YouTube channel and rarely find a song or cover that misses, so I would suggest spending a little time with her there. You won’t regret it.
There are songs cemented in history, tied to their time and anchored in their era. “Unchained Melody” is both of these things and, at the same time, isn’t. It’s very much a product of the 1950s, with its chord progressions and instrumentation. Yet, it became most popular ten years after it was written, when the Righteous Brothers released their version in 1965. The title is fitting. This song has legs and makes use of them. It has been covered and reinterpreted time and time again since its initial release, all those years ago.
First composed in 1954 by Alex North, the song was written for the feature film “Unchained,” which tells the story of a prison and the prisoners who inhabit it. Alex North had wanted to use the melody, which would be used in “Unchained Melody,” since the mid-1930s, and finally found a use for it in the film’s soundtrack.
He elicited the help of Hy Zaret to write the lyrics. Zaret would prove to be quite stubborn in the writing process and refused to use the word “unchained” in the song. Instead, he decided to focus the theme on a person pining over a lover they hadn’t seen in a long time and the loneliness that comes with that time apart. The result was subtle and open-ended enough to fit with the movie, without chaining it to the idea of someone serving in prison.
Zaret leaned into more widely applicable “prison of love” lyrics. This proved to be the right decision, as the song took off and was reinterpreted and re-released several times in the year following its appearance in the movie. Todd Duncan sang the first recorded version in a scene from the film, where he was accompanied by another prisoner on guitar while fellow downtrodden inmates listened on.
From that point on, the song would be recorded by different artists in various styles. Arrangements ranged from orchestral-choral to stripped-down, instrumental, and vocal versions. Ten years later, the Righteous Brothers—specifically Bobby Hatfield—did a solo version for their album after winning a coin toss with singing partner Bill Medley. Neither expected it to be a hit. It was a B-side to a song called “Hung on You.” DJs showed little interest in that track, but ironically fell in love with the B-side, “Unchained Melody.”
Over the years, the song jumped into and out of the charts. It returned to the Billboard Top 100 after being featured in the soundtrack for the movie Ghost. The song’s lasting impact can be attributed, in great part, to its emotionally charged lyrics and substantial build-up toward the end. In the Righteous Brothers’ version, this culminates in a dramatic climax, which most post-1965 versions would borrow from when recreating the song.
The version we are discussing today is by YouTube star Lucy Thomas. She has garnered tens of millions of views with her covers of popular songs, including modern pop hits and older classics like “Unchained Melody.” Her version pays homage to the Righteous Brothers’ take. Her vocals are angelic, clear, and stunning in their performance.
She lets her vocals do the heavy lifting for the first half of the song, only accompanied by simple piano lines. Lucy makes use of her wide range and control, taking long and flowing runs on long-sustained notes throughout each line.
The rest of the band abruptly kicks in halfway through, matching Lucy’s energy and filling the space left open in the first half. She keeps her vocals steady and consistent as the band finds its footing. Then, following Bobby’s lead, she sends her pitch to the top of her range. A heavenly falsetto carries the famous “I need your love” line that Hatfield’s version popularized sixty years before.
It’s one of the most beautiful expressions of a song that, on its own, can bring a tear to the eye, and her talent accelerates the emotional flames here, as it does in all of her covers. Her channel is filled with performances just as emotionally impactful and beautiful as this, including her version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, which vocally follows Jeff Buckley’s popularized version of the song. One could spend hours browsing through Lucy’s YouTube channel and rarely find a song or cover that misses, so I would suggest spending a little time with her there. You won’t regret it.