"Spanish Harlem" is a song recorded by Ben E. King in 1960 for Atco Records. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Leiber credited Stoller with the arrangement in a 1968 interview; similarly, Leiber said in a 2009 radio interview with Leiber and Stoller on the Bob Edwards Weekendtalk show that Stoller had written the key instrumental introduction to the record, although he was not credited. Stoller remarks in the team's autobiography Hound Dog that he had created this "fill" while doing a piano accompaniment when the song was presented to Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, with Spector playing guitar and Leiber doing the vocal. "Since then, I've never heard the song played without that musical figure." It was originally released as the B-side to "First Taste of Love". The song was King's first hit away from The Drifters, a group that he had led for several years. It climbed the Billboard charts with an arrangement by Stan Applebaum featuring Spanish guitar, marimba, drum-beats, soprano saxophone, strings, and a male chorus, and peaked at number 15 for rhythm and blues and number 10 in pop music. It was ranked number 358 on Rolling Stone's list ofthe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. King's version was not a hit in the United Kingdom. The song was re-released in 1987, after Stand By Me made number one.
Aretha Franklin's version
In 1971, Aretha Franklin released a cover version of the song that outperformed the original on the charts, in which Franklin changed the lyrics slightly: from "A red rose up in Spanish Harlem" to "There's a rose in Black 'n Spanish Harlem. A rose in Black 'n Spanish Harlem.” Her version went to #1 on the US soul charts for three weeks and #2 Pop for two weeks. "Spanish Harlem" was kept from the #1 spot by Go AwayLittle Girl by Donny Osmond. This version also hit #6 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. Aretha Franklin's version earned a gold single for sales of over one million. Dr. John played keyboards on Franklin's version with Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums and Chuck Rainey on bass.
Cliff Richard released a version on the 1962 album 32 Minutes and 17 Seconds. He also recorded a German version, titled "Das ist die Frage aller Fragen", with lyrics by Carl Ulrich Blecher, that was a #1 hit in Germany and Austria in 1963, and a #1 hit in Switzerland in 1965.
