Song Title: Strangers in the Night
Artist: Frank Sinatra
Date that it entered the Top 100: May 7, 1966
Peaked at No. 1 on: June 18, 1966, and remained there for one week.
Left the Top 100 on: August 13, 1966
In early 1982, I was a junior at South Dakota State University in Brookings. It was my first and only year in attendance there. I was living in Hansen Hall on the far western edge of the campus. At about 1 in the morning, the fire alarm went off. Needless to say, this was an extremely inconvenient time for a drill (or a prank). Many of the residents of the western half of the dorm, the men's side -- all four floors of them -- filed out the remote west exit of the building. Scattered amongst the crowd were one or two female students who had obviously stayed on the men's side past the midnight curfew.
As you might expect, we were all a pretty unhappy bunch of exiles as we stood there in the cold night air, many with no shoes, staring silently at the sidewalk or at one another. Several of the guys were wrapped only in blankets, as they had been deep asleep when the alarm went off. I believe I had been awake at the time, so I was lucky enough to have my clothes on. One seemingly unhappy guy from the first floor (my floor) was slowly milling around in circles, trying to keep warm, and bearing his usual ultra-deadpan expression. I had seldom ever seen this guy speak more than a few words. He just didn't seem to be the talkative type. One of his friends, a fairly tall guy, was standing silently, unhappily, in one place, just watching him mill around. Very few of us were speaking to one another. It was simply too late, and none of us wanted to be there. I wasn't thinking much of anything as I watched the people watching one another or trying not to watch one another.
Suddenly, the milling guy, who was standing about three feet in front of me, reached out from under his blanket, grabbed the sides of his friend's face with both hands, looked him directly in the eyes and sang with great meaning, "Strangers in the night, exchanging glances..." Then he let go and went on about his milling again, and the friend just continued to stare silently.
I don't remember what the rest of the crowd did, probably nothing, but I started laughing uncontrollably under my breath, the same sort of uncontrollable laugh that I am experiencing now, even as I write this, 24 years later.
It was one of those magical moments in life that make this annoying experience worth the effort.
