Title: Stranger on the Shore
Artist: Acker Bilk
Year: 1962
Album: N/A - single release
Quick—name the first recording from the UK ever to top the US Billboard Hot 100. Beatles? Nope. Try Acker Bilk. Yes, Acker Bilk. And he did it with a laid-back instrumental featuring a clarinet solo.
Consider how much the world has changed in the last 50 years. Can you imagine an instrumental composition reaching #1 on the pop charts? Not a song from a movie soundtrack (although, to be fair, "Stranger on the Shore" was the theme to a British television show, prompting its release and rise to the top of the charts in the United Kingdom), but just a nice pleasant piece of easy listening music embraced by the masses. Oh, and by the way, "Stranger on the Shore" was one of THREE instrumentals to top the pop charts in 1962 (along with David Rose's "The Stripper" and The Tornados' "Telstar," another British import).
I don't really have anything else to say about this. There's nothing particularly important or interesting about the piece but it is very calming and I thought you could use three minutes of peace and quiet in your life. (Just watch out for that jarring bVI around 2:31. Could knock you out of your rocking chair if you're not expecting it.)
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