Stranger in Paradise is a 1953 song from the musical Kismet, credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest, with the melody adapted from Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. In the musical it is a lovers' duet about the transcendent feeling of love turning the surroundings into paradise; the original stage performers were Doretta Morrow and Richard Kiley. The best known recording is Tony Bennett's 1953 single, released November 2, 1953, on Columbia, with the B-side Why Does it Have to Be Me; it helped popularize the tune as a show tune and pop standard. The song peaked at number one in the UK in 1955 and was one of six versions to chart there that year; other 1953-55 charting artists included The Four Aces, Tony Martin, Bing Crosby and Don Cornell. Bennett revisited the song in 2011 as a duet with Andrea Bocelli on the album Duets II.
