My Melody of Love (1974) 8/30/20

Today's “Great Song of the '70s” came out of nowhere.

Well actually, it originally came out of Germany and was titled “Herzen Haben Keine Fenster” (“Hearts Have No Windows”) and was performed by German singer Elfi Graf.

Next came a Spanish version retitled “Palabras de Cristal” with new lyrics sung by Spanish pop singer Karina.

Then, there was an English version, retitled “Don't Stay Away Too Long,” with new lyrics sung by Peters & Lee. This version reached #3 in the UK but didn't chart anywhere else.

Somewhere along the way, America's Bobby Vinton heard the song, decided to rewrite and re-title it again, and THIS time sing it half in English and half in Polish!

Well, that sounded like a crazy idea...but Bobby was sure his version would be a hit with the Polka crowd and Polish Americans like himself.

Turns out he was right! “My Melody of Love” went straight to #1 on the Adult Contemporary Charts in the US and Canada...and reached #3 on Billboard's Hot 100. Bobby was crowned “The Polish Prince,” and he used that nickname for the rest of his career!

At WOHO in Toledo, we played the HECK out of the song. We had a DJ named Ron Sobczak, who was also proud of his Polish heritage, and he gave the station an extra bit of credibility for playing the song as often as possible. Toledo, like many cities, had a large Polish-American population, and they couldn't get enough of it.

Years later, in the late '80s, when I was a manager at WDEZ in Wausau, Wisconsin (where a huge percent of the population is also Polish-American), we had a Sunday Morning Polka show, and the host, Jeff Heinz, played a version of the song almost every week. (He's still doing the show, so he probably still does!)

Of course, you didn't have be Polish to love the song. The chart positions proved that. In fact, those numbers prove that “My Melody of Love” was a “Great Song of the '70s!” (or “Wielka piosenka lat siedemdziesiątych” in Polish!)