"Spanish Harlem" is a song released by Ben E. King in 1961 on Atco Records, written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector. The song was King's first hit away from The Drifters, a group he had led for several years. With Spanish guitar, Marimba, and drum-beats, the song climbed the Billboard charts, eventually peaking at #15 at R&B and #10 at Pop. It was later ranked #349 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Aretha Franklin released a cover version of the song in the summer of 1971 which outperformed the original on the charts, charting #1 R&B for three weeks and #2 Pop for two weeks and earning a gold single for sales of over one million. Dr. John played keyboards on Franklin's version. Franklin also changed the lyric slightly, from "A red rose up in Spanish Harlem" to "The rose is black in Spanish Harlem."
The song was also covered by The Mamas and The Papas in 1966, Slim Smith in 1968, and Kenny Rankin in 2002. It has also been covered by Willy DeVille, The Cats, Geoff Love, Percy Faith, Janet Seidel, Chet Atkins, Laura Nyro, Rebecca Pidgeon, Neil Diamond,Cliff Richard,Bowling for Soup and Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass.
Finally, Spector himself recorded a version of the song, which can be found on the Wall of Sound Retrospective album, released in 2006.
It is also referenced in the popular novel, "The Dogs of War", by Fredrick Forsyth; it is the tune whistled by the protagonist.
Translated into French as 'Nuits d'Espagne' by L. Salvet & L. Morisse in 1961, it was recorded the same year by Dalida.
