1 in Norway for eight weeks. All-time charts "Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel" In her autobiography Who's Sorry Now?, published in 1984, Francis mentioned that in the early years of her career the language barrier in certain European countries made it difficult for her songs to get airplay, especially in Germany. Francis continued that Germany's most popular singer, Freddy Quinn, often sold two to three million records per song, equivalent to about twelve million in the United States. Using this as the basis for her April 1960 recording, "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", which had initially been written as a ballad, Francis convinced the songwriters to speed up the song's tempo and revive the innovative drum rhythm from Guy Mitchell's 1959 hit recording "Heartaches by the Number", which had been a No. 1 in Germany in its German cover version "Ich zähle täglich meine Sorgen" for Peter Alexander. Although "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" became her first No. 1 on the US charts, and its B-side "Jealous of Uou (Tango della Gelosia)" became a huge hit in Italy, it failed to make any impression on the German charts. Veteran lyricist Ralph Maria Siegel penned a set of German lyrics, named "Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel" (which translates to "Love is a strange game"), which was subsequently recorded by several artists already established on the German market such as Siw Malmkvist – self-harmonizing as the Jolly Sisters – or the Honey Twins (a German duo despite their English name). When these versions also failed to score as hits, Francis decided to record the song in German herself contrary to her producers' wishes who had advised against it despite the fact that Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites had been such a huge success and she was currently planning a second Italian album as well as a Spanish album and an album in Hebrew and Yiddish. But Francis insisted on a German version of her own, and after some further friction between Francis herself, her producers and the managers of MGM Records, "Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel" was recorded in June 1960 with producer Arnold Maxin. Release and chart success When the recording was finished, MGM producers on both sides of the Atlantic renewed their doubts in the song. They believed the release would mean "career suicide" for Francis in Europe. However, Francis's unusual contract with MGM Records guaranteed her unlimited control over the