So I was in a Mexican restaurant the other day and was pleasantly surprised to hear a Spanish cover of Unchained Melody break up the mariachifest that had been going since the start of the meal. I think Scott will agree with me in saying that Unchained Melody may be one of the finest love songs ever written, and incredibly, I might even say that this Spanish version rivals that of the Righteous Brothers. Evidence: All four of us at the table were either lip-synching or trying to sing along by song’s end. None of us know Spanish.

I can’t seem to find the version played in the restaurant, but check out the original above, which was written for a 1950’s prison film. As a general rule, covers tend to be less-than versions of the original, but it’s clear the Brothers/Phil Spector version made this the classic it is today (them and P Swaze).

Also, I love how you can’t find this song set to anything but cheese.

More Melody here: U2, Elvis (in Ann Arbor), etc. There’s also a version by some band called Il Devo that’s in Spanish but not nearly as good as the one I heard, which was far less produced.