Song: “Because the Night”
Three great artists contributed to this classic, which still gives thrills and chills
Bruce Springsteen started writing “Because the Night” in 1976, but he didn’t work on it in a studio until 1977. He’d been embroiled in a legal dispute with his manager, Mike Appel.
Springsteen started recording it for 1978’s classic Darkness On The Edge Of Town, but every song to be about how people react when they don’t have “freedom from dread.” This song didn’t fit, and its lyrics were just a sketch.
The song lay dormant until Springsteen’s next producer, Jimmy Iovine, convinced him to give a copy to Patti Smith. Iovine was also producing Smith’s Easter album.
Smith wrote the lyrics in one night, a rare thing for her. She had time, since she was waiting for her boyfriend at the time, Fred “Sonic” Smith, to call. This gave us the sparse, lovely, and very specific lyric:
Love is a ring, a telephone.
By the time Fred called around midnight, the song was done.
Springsteen didn’t release a studio version until 2010, but a live version was on his boxed set Live 1975-1985.
10,000 Maniacs covered “Because the Night” in 1993 for MTV’s Unplugged. Their version — featured here — was the song’s highest charting, reaching #11 in the US. Natalie Merchant’s voice and delivery are second to none, and even today new listeners get chills from her dynamics and phrasing.
When Fred, who became Patti’s husband, died of a heart attack in 1994 at age 45, royalties from the 10,000 Maniacs’ cover helped keep her and her two young children financially solvent. The song became a lasting tribute to Fred — Smith later took to performing it with her kids, Jackson and Jesse, who had become musicians.
Enjoy!