"Mr. Lonely" is a song co-written and recorded by Bobby Vinton. The song featured originally as part of Vinton's album Roses Are Red during 1962. Later that year, Buddy Greco recorded a version of the song using a very similar musical arrangement as Vinton's version. Greco's single release scored #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during November 1962. Vinton's recording was included on his Greatest Hits album during 1964 autumn and concurrently issued as a single, scoring #1 on the Billboard chart during December of that year.

The song describes a soldier who is sent overseas and has no communication with his home; the singer laments his condition and wishes for someone to talk with. The single of Vinton's recording was released just as the Vietnam War was escalating; many soldiers were experiencing a similar situation, which may have increased the song's popularity. During 1966, Vinton and Gene Allan re-teamed to compose a sequel song, "Coming Home Soldier", which scored #11 on the Billboard chart.

During 1967, former Yugoslav beat band Zlatni Dečaci recorded a Serbian language cover version of the song, entitled "Sam".^[1] Philippine singer Victor Wood made a bilingual version of the song, alternating the original lyrics with Filipino ones. This particular cover version became popular in the Philippines and gave some fame to the entertainer. During 2005, Senegalese-American singer Akon sampled this song for his single "Lonely", which features on his debut album Trouble. This song uses a sped-up sample of the earlier song.

Cultural references[edit]

• It featured in the animated movie Flushed Away, where singing slugs perform it for the main character, Roddy, as he is left alone.
• It is featured in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) plays the song while dancing with Jackie (Tyra Banks).
• The character Kim Jong-il sings a similar-sounding song in the movie Team America: World Police.
• The song was used as the title of the 2007 Harmony Korine movie, Mister Lonely.
• In a commercial for Premium Crackers, the song is played alternating with "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by Scorpions
• In Japan this song is known as the opening theme for a radio program "JET STREAM", played with easy-listening style.

References[edit]

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