At a concert at Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. Mickey and Sylvia heard Jody Williams play a guitar riff that Williams had played on Billy Stewart's debut single "Billy's Blues". "Billy's Blues" was released as a single in June 1956 and the instrumentation combined a regular blues styling with Afro-Cuban styling. Sylvia Robinson claims that she and Mickey Baker wrote the lyrics, while Bo Diddley claims that he wrote them. The first recorded version of "Love Is Strange" was performed by Bo Diddley, who recorded his version on May 24, 1956 with Jody Williams on lead guitar. This version was not released until its appearance on I'm a Man: The Chess Masters, 1955–1958 in 2007. Mickey & Sylvia's version was recorded several months later on October 17, 1956. A second Mickey & Sylvia studio recording, recorded some years after, featured now-legendary drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on his first paid session gig. The song is noted for its spoken dialogue section which goes as follows:
"Sylvia!" "Yes, Mickey." "How do you call your Lover Boy?" "Come here, Lover Boy!" "And if he doesn't answer?" "Oh, Lover Boy!" "And if he still doesn't answer?" "I simply say..." "Baby/ Oh baby/ My sweet baby/ You're the one."
Charts and accolades
"Love Is Strange" peaked at #1 on Billboard magazine's most played by jockeys R&B Singles chart on March 6, 1957 and #11 on the Hot 100. In 2004 "Love Is Strange" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its influence as a rock and roll single.
Cover versions
Full covers and adaptations
Samplings
Part of the song was sampled for the song "Rinky Dink" by Bill Justis and for the 2012 Pitbull hit "Back in Time" from Men In Black 3.
In popular culture
The song was featured in Dirty Dancing and included on the soundtrack, which is one of the best-selling albums of all time. The spoken part is referenced by Lou Reed at the end of his song "Beginning of A Great Adventure" on his 1989 album New York. He had married Sylvia Morales in 1980. The song appears also in the Dennis Potter 1993 TV Mini Series "Lipstick on your collar" where Mickey and Sylvia becomes the two main characters. "" It also gained a following after appearing in Deep Throat. The song was also played in the Terrence Malick film Badlands and the Martin Scorsese film Casino. The song also is played in the 2000 HBO hit show The Sopranos, season two, episode 6. It can also be heard playing in the second episode of The Wire. The Belinda Carlisle hit "Summer Rain", originally released in 1990 mentions Love Is Strange in the second verse. The Christopher Guest film A Mighty Wind refers to a male-female folk duo played by Catherine O Hara and Eugene Levy that perform a similar call and response song. Mickey and Sylvia's version is heard in a 2013 TV commercial for Nationwide Insurance. In 2015, Mickey and Sylvia's version is featured in a memorable scene of season 3, episode 4 of the Australian TV comedy drama, Please Like Me, in which characters Josh and Arnold lip-sync and act out the spoken dialogue part of the song like Baby and Johnny do in the film, Dirty Dancing. The song was covered by Kristin Chenoweth in the 2015 animated feature by George Lucas, Strange Magic. In the pivotal scene, the Sugar Plum Fairy creates a love potion while reprising the song. The song is heard in the cafe scene in the movie Dogma by Kevin Smith. Delta Burke and Meshach Taylor lip-synced to this song in The Rowdy Girls episode of Designing Women. The song Trash released by the New York Dolls in 1973 quotes the line "how do you call your lover boy?" In season 2 episode 12 of How I Met Your Mother, when Barney is asked when he had his first sex, he recreates the spoken dialogue part of the song, with him playing Johnny, implying he had his first sex after that with Frances Houseman.
