Night Shift

Album: Souls Aflame (2000)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song, according to O.A.R. frontman Marc Roberge, was made up during live performances. "It came out of playing on stage. And what we're doing again now (2009) is we just make sh*t up on the fly a lot." And they trust their audience not to be judgmental about it, because "you go for it sometimes and it doesn't work lyrically, because you're making the words up on stage, and it doesn't work. But this one worked, and it was one of the first songs we ever had like that that worked."
  • It's a fun song that arose from a simple idea, says Marc. Just about "the hardships of being away from home and everything I was used to. It was basically a song about a girl, and saying, 'I'm working nights here. I'm up all night thinking about you. This is what I'm doing: I got no money, I got nothing, but everything's cool, because I've got nighttime to work and think about you."
  • O.A.R. has enjoyed tremendous rapport with their fans in a very down-to-earth way. Marc believes it's "because they could be doing this just as easily as we could be doing it. We're just guys who are in a band, we just really love what we do. And I think they love that we love it. If we were up there jaded and couldn't stand the sight of each other, I don't think people would come. You can't lie about that stuff."
    And, being a particularly grounded sort of person, when loyal fans tell Marc they've seen dozens of O.A.R. shows, Marc laughs and says, "I feel like I owe each of them a little bit of money. Every time they're like, 'This is my 45th show.' I'm like, 'Oh my God, I guess I'll give you a couple of refunds. I'm sure we had some bad ones in there.'" (Check out our full interview with Marc Roberge.)

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Chris Isaak

Chris IsaakSongwriter Interviews

Chris tells the story of "Wicked Game," talks milkshakes and moonpies at Sun Records, and explains why women always get their way.

80s Video Director Jay Dubin

80s Video Director Jay DubinSong Writing

Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.