Stranger in Paradise (song)

"Stranger in Paradise"
Single by Tony Bennett
B-side"Why Does it Have to Be Me?"
Published1953 Frank Music Corp.
ReleasedNovember 2, 1953 (1953-11-02)
RecordedOctober 13, 1953
StudioCBS 30th Street Studio, New York City
GenreShow tune, Popular Music
Length3:05
LabelColumbia 40121
Songwriter(s)Alexander Borodin, Robert Wright, George Forrest
Tony Bennett singles chronology
"Rags to Riches"
(1953)
"Stranger in Paradise"
(1953)
"There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight"
(1954)

"Stranger in Paradise" is a popular song from the musical Kismet (1953), credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like almost all the music in that show, the melody was adapted from music composed by Alexander Borodin (1833–1887), in this case, the "Gliding Dance of the Maidens", from the Polovtsian Dances in the opera Prince Igor (1890). The song in the musical is a lovers' duet and describes the transcendent feelings that love brings to their surroundings. Later versions were mostly edited to be sung by male solo artists.