Stranger on the Shore

Stranger on the Shore is a piece for clarinet written by Acker Bilk for his young daughter and originally named "Jenny" after her. It was subsequently used as the theme tune of a BBC TV programme entitled Stranger on the Shore.

The track, performed by Bilk with backing by the Leon Young String Chorale, was released as a single on Columbia Records DB 4750 in October 1961, with the label of the single openly proclaiming "Theme from the B.B.C. TV. Series". The B-side was "Take my Lips". The single became a phenomenal success, topping the NME singles chart and spending nearly a year on the Record Retailer Top 50. It is the UK's biggest-selling instrumental single of all time, and appears 58th in the official UK list of best-selling singles issued in 2002.