'Unchained Melody' — Righteous Brothers

I watched the 1990 movie "Ghost" for the first time the other night after happening on its mention in an aside in some article about who knows what.

This song featured in it big time, and though I recognized it instantly I couldn't for the life of me remember who sang it.

When I looked it up it all came back to me: the Righteous Brothers made it a monster hit in 1965.

The back story of the song is fascinating.

"It is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. Over 1,500 recordings of 'Unchained Melody' have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages."

"Of the hundreds of recordings made of the song, the Righteous Brothers' version, with a solo by Bobby Hatfield, became the jukebox standard after its release. Hatfield changed the melody in the final verse and many subsequent covers of the song are based on his version. The Righteous Brothers recording achieved a second round of great popularity when it was featured in the film 'Ghost.'"

"In 2004, it was number 27 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema."

"Ghost" — which I'd never even heard of — won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Bruce Joel Rubin and was an unexpected box office success, grossing $505 million.

That made it the highest grossing film of 1990 — against a budget of $22-$23 million — and at the time of its release the third-highest-grossing film of all time.

The music was written by veteran French composer Maurice Jarre and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Demi Moore, in a starring role, was 28 when the film was released: she sparkles.