Night

Album: Greatest Hits (1960)
Charted: 4
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Songfacts®:

  • The melody of this song, which was written by John Lehman and Herb Miller, was based on Camille Saint-Saens' (1877) French opera Samson et Delila, specifically the aria entitled: "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" (My heart opens itself to your voice, aka Softly Awakes My Heart). >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Pinky - Kansas City, KS
  • While Wilson is better known for "Lonely Teardrops" and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher," "Night" was his biggest chart hit in the United States, and his only certified Gold Single.

    The song is of the "I can dream about you" variety, with Wilson losing his girl but finding solace at night when she comes back to him in his dreams.

Comments: 3

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 5 1960, 'The Big Beat' touring show, which was a Alan Freed production, played at the State Theater in Hartford, Connecticut; Jackie Wilson was the show's headliner...
    Later in March "Night" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart {See the below posts}...
    Exactly three years earlier on March 5th, 1957 Alan Freed tried to fool the panel on the CBS-TV game show 'To Tell The Truth'.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 31st 1963, Jackie Wilson performed "Baby Work Out" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'*...
    At the time the song was at #6 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; exactly one week later on April 7th, 1963 it would peak at #5 {for 3 weeks} and spent 12 weeks on the Top 100...
    Then on May 5th, 1963 it reached #1 {for 3 weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    And on the same 'Sullivan' show he also performed "Night" {See next post below}...
    * It was Mr. Wilson's four appearance on the 'Sullivan' show.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 12th 1960, Jackie Wilson performed "Night" on the ABC-TV program 'Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beechnut Show'...
    And nine days later on March 21st, 1960 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #90, seven weeks later on May 9th, 1960 it peaked at #4 {for 2 weeks} and spent 17 weeks on the Top 100...
    The very week "Night" peaked at #4 on the Top 100, the record's B-side, "Doggin' Around", was at #15 on the chart, and that was its peak position on the Top 100...
    But on Billboard's R&B Singles chart the record did a flip-flop; on May 16th, 1960 "Doggin' Around" peaked at #1 {for 3 weeks} while "Night" reached #3 on the chart...
    Between 1957 and 1975 he had forty-three records on the R&B Singles chart; seventeen made the Top 10 with six peaking at #1, the other five were "Lonely Teardrops" {1958}, "You Better Know It" {1959}, "A Woman, a Lover, a Friend" {1960}, "Baby Workout" {1963}, and "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" {1967}...
    Jackie Wilson passed away on January 21st, 1984 at the young age of 49...
    May he R.I.P.
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