Right Time of the Night
| "Right Time of the Night" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Jennifer Warnes | ||||
| from the album Jennifer Warnes | ||||
| B-side | "Daddy Don't Go" | |||
| Released | January, 1977 | |||
| Format | 7" (45 rpm) | |||
| Recorded | 1976 | |||
| Genre | Pop, country | |||
| Length | 2:53 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Writer(s) | Peter McCann | |||
| Producer(s) | Jim Ed Norman | |||
| Jennifer Warnes singles chronology | ||||
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"Right Time of the Night" is the title of a 1977 Top Ten hit single by Jennifer Warnes, being her recording of a composition by Peter McCann.
Background
The tracks intended to comprise the completed album Jennifer Warnes which Warnes presented to her label Arista Records did not include "Right Time of the Night". Arista president Clive Davis later told Billboard: "If a [singer such as] Jennifer Warnes submits an album which is great but lacks a hit single, I and my A&R staff will say: 'Listen, you need a hit. Because you're not really going to break off FM airplay...So we gave her 'Right Time of the Night'."[1] Warnes had recorded the original tracks for the Jennifer Warnes album with producer Jim Price; for Warnes' recording of "Right Time of the Night" Davis brought in Jim Ed Norman to produce, with Norman also producing "I'm Dreaming" which was another track added to Warnes' album on the basis of its having hit potential. Warnes recalled, "Clive picked 'I'm Dreaming' and 'Right Time of the Night', and he brought in Jim Ed Norman, who arranges strings for the Eagles, to give those songs very explicit tracks."[2] Recorded at Davlen Sound Studios (Los Angeles), "Right Time of the Night" was remixed by Val Garay.
"Right Time of the Night" had been recorded by its composer Peter McCann for his 1976 self-titled album - McCann's version served as B-side for his own 1977 Top Ten hit "Do You Wanna Make Love" - and as written and recorded by McCann the song featured a second verse whose lyric was felt had too masculine a resonance for Warnes to record. Warnes herself wrote a new lyric for the second verse which McCann rejected to eventually write a new second verse for Warnes' version himself. Prior to the release of Warnes' version of "Right Time of the Night", Bette Midler expressed an interest in recording the song but asked that the bridge be reworked, a stipulation McCann was still working on when Warnes' version reached the charts at which point work on a Midler version was dropped.
Jim Ed Norman would recall: "Jennifer Warnes didn't want to do 'Right Time of the Night'. I tried to intellectually express why I thought that song could work for her, how it had potential, how it could be done. [I said:] 'I would do my best to make sure that she got what she wanted, et cetera et cetera.' It took several dinners and meals to finally get her to kind of relax and say: 'Okay okay'."[3]
Warnes had said of "Right Time of the Night": "I'm grateful for it, but I didn't pick the song...It's a mixed feeling...to have someone else make the decisions for you and then of course it's successful because they have the radio operation. What can I say? People love the song."[4]
Credits
- Backing Vocals - Doug Haywood
- Bass - Michael Bowden
- Drums - Matt Betton Jr.
- Guitar - John Leslie Hug , Kenny Edwards
- Guitar [Steel] - Doug Livingston
- Keyboards - Brian Whitcomb
- Producer - Jim Ed Norman
- Strings - Jimmy Getsoff , Ray Kelley
Impact
Recorded in 1976 [5] and issued in January of 1977, "Right Time of the Night" debuted on the 29 January 1977 edition of the Billboard Hot 100 at #81, Warnes' first appearance on the chart in a nine year recording career. The single hit #5 in Cash Box and peaked at #6 in Billboard that spring.[6]
The first of three #1 Adult Contemporary hits for Warnes,[2] "Right Time of the Night" also became the first Arista release to reach the C&W chart, where it peaked at #17.
Chart performance
| Chart | Peak position |
Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia Kent Music Report Top Singles | 33 | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 6 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 3 | U.S. Billboard Easy Listening | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary | 1 | U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 17 |
| U.S. Billboard Easy Listening | 1 |
Other versions
"Right Time of the Night" also featured on 1977 album releases by Reba McEntire - on her self-titled debut album - and Lynn Anderson (I Love What Love Is Doin' to Me). Mary Mason recorded "Right Time of the Night" in medley with the Marmalade hit "Baby Make It Soon"; introduced on Mason's Angel of the Morning album, the track "Right Time of the Night/Baby Make It Soon" was released as a single in the UK in 1978. John Travolta's recording of "Right Time of the Night" was included on his 1978 album Greased Lightnin'. "Right Time of the Night" has also been recorded by Dominic Kirwan, Danny Ray with Shirley James, and by Anita Sarawak.
See also
References
- ↑ Billboard 26 November 1977 v.89 #47 p.89
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
- ↑ Jarrett, Michael (2014). Producing Country; the inside story of great recordings (1st US ed.). Middletown CT: Wesleyan University Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-8195-7463-3.
- ↑ Warnes, Jennifer (November 13, 2007). Interview,Jennifer Warnes. Interview with Bob Edwards. Bob Edwards Show. XM Radio.
- ↑ "Image 292 (thumbnail): Jennifer Warnes - Right Time of the Night". 45cat.com. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th Edition (Billboard Publications)
External links
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