"Wonderland by Night" (German title ''"Wunderland bei Nacht"'') is a
popular song by
Bert Kaempfert
Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the mus ...
that was a ''
Billboard'' number one hit for three weeks, starting January 9, 1961. It was recorded in July 1959. The song was written by Klaus Günter Neumann with English lyrics by
Lincoln Chase
Lincoln R. Chase (June 29, 1926 – October 6, 1980) was an American songwriter and occasional recording artist. As a writer, his most notable songs were "Such a Night", " Jim Dandy", and several of Shirley Ellis' hits in the early 1960s incl ...
. It was Bert Kaempfert's first hit with his orchestra. The song featured Charly Tabor on trumpet.
"Wonderland by Night" also crossed over to the R&B chart where it peaked at number five.
Chart history
All-time charts
Notable cover versions
*Another cover, recorded and released by
Louis Prima
Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...
, also charted in the same year, reaching #15 on the Billboard charts.
*
Anita Bryant's version, which included orchestrations by Lew Douglas, reached #18 on the US Pop Chart.
In popular culture
A German-language
numbers station (G10) was operated by one of Polish intelligence agencies and was active until the late 1970s which used Keampfert's version of the song and its b-side repeated twice followed by the average format of a numbers station. it was later replaced by G11, which was most recently active from 2007 to 2014.
See also
*
List of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles of 1961
References
{{Bert Kaempfert
Songs about nights
1960 singles
1961 singles
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Anita Bryant songs
Decca Records singles
1960 songs
1960s instrumentals
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Songs written by Lincoln Chase