Song of the day for December 19, 2023
Today’s song is Because the Night, performed by Patti Smith at the 2007 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
“Because the Night” is a rock song written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith that was first released in 1978 as a single from the Patti Smith Group album Easter. This version rose to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as No. 5 in the United Kingdom, and helped propel sales of Easter to mainstream success.
The song has subsequently been covered by numerous artists, and at least two of these cover versions have been chart hits. A 1992 version of the song by CO.RO. and it was a hit in several countries in Europe and South America. It reached No. 1 in Spain and the Top 10 in Belgium, France, Greece, and Italy. The following year, a live acoustic version was recorded by 10,000 Maniacs for MTV Unplugged.
In 1987, the song was ranked No. 116 on NME magazine’s list of “The Top 150 Singles of All Time.” It remains the best-known song of Smith’s catalog. In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 358 on “Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. The Independent listed the song as one of the ten best new wave singles of 1978.
On December 19, 2000 Robert Buck, the guitarist of 10,000 Maniacs died of liver failure. The cover of Because the Night that was performed by 10,000 Maniacs was the bands biggest charting hit. Reaching number 7 on the US Alt (Alternative airplay) chart and 11 on the US (Billboard hot 100) charts, making it the highest charting version of the song in the U.S. On the Canadian singles chart this song hit number 10.
