Croatian composer Stjepan Mihaljinec, Robić said that he had composed a song "Ta ljetna noć" (That Summer Night) and sent it to a festival in the former Yugoslavia, where it was rejected. Then he sang a first few bars from that song, identical to the first few bars of "Strangers in the Night" ("Strangers in the night, exchanging glances..."). Robić claimed that, later, Kaempfert "composed" that very same song for him, which later became known as "Strangers in the Night". That has never been substantiated. Robić, often referred to as "Mr. Morgen" for his 1950s chart success with "Morgen", which was created in collaboration with Kaempfert, was the singer of the Croatian version of the song, titled "Stranci u noći". Robić's recording was released in 1966 by the Yugoslav record company Jugoton, with the serial number EPY-3779. On the label of the record, Kaempfert and Marija Renota are stated as authors, with Renota being the author of the Croatian lyrics. The English title, "Strangers in the Night", was created after the composition, when New York music publishers Roosevelt Music asked lyricists Eddie Snyder and Charles Singleton to put some words to the tune. "Stranci u noći" is a literal translation of that phrase. Philippe-Gérard In 1967, French composer Michel Philippe-Gérard (more commonly known as Philippe-Gérard) claimed that the melody of "Strangers" was based on his composition "Magic Tango", which was published in 1953 through Chappell & Co. in New York. Royalties from the song were thus frozen until a court in Paris ruled in 1971 against plagiarism, stating that many songs were based on similar constant factors. Recording The track was recorded on April 11, 1966, one month before the rest of the album. Hal Blaine was the drummer and Glen Campbell played rhythm guitar. According to Blaine, he reused the iconic drum beat from "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes in a slower and softer arrangement. One of the most memorable and recognizable features of the record is Sinatra's scat improvisation of the melody (on take two) with the syllables "doo-be-doo-be-doo" as the song fades to the end. For the CD Nothing but the Best, the song was remastered and the running time is 2:45 instead of the usual 2:35. The extra ten seconds is just a continuation of Sinatra's scat singing. In 1968, CBS television executive Fred Silverman was inspired by the scat whilst listening to the recording