Black Night

"Black Night"
Single by Deep Purple
B-side "Speed King"
Released 5 June 1970 (1970-06-05)
Format 7-inch single
Recorded
Genre
Length 3:28
Label Harvest
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Deep Purple
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Hallelujah"
(1969)
"Black Night"
(1970)
"Strange Kind of Woman"
(1971)

"Hallelujah"
(1969)
"Black Night"
(1970)
"Strange Kind of Woman"
(1971)

"Black Night" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple, first released as a single in June 1970 and later included on the 25th Anniversary version of their 1970 album, In Rock. The song became a hit following its release, peaking at No. 2 on UK charts, and to this day remains Deep Purple's highest charting UK single. It topped the charts in Switzerland, and is one of only two singles from the band to chart in Ireland, peaking at No. 4, thus making it the group's only Irish Top 10 hit. It was also the first single penned by the band.

Writing process and recording

Once In Rock had been completed, EMI asked for a suitable single to be recorded to help promote the album. Though Roger Glover claims that Ricky Nelson's 1962 hard rocking arrangement of the George Gershwin song "Summertime" was the basis for the Mk II Deep Purple single "Black Night",[3] it is also similar to Blues Magoos's 1966 psychedelic hit song "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet".[4] In the BBC documentary Heavy Metal Britannia, keyboardist Jon Lord supports Glover's statement about the song's origin, stating "Black Night was nicked from the bass line in Ricky Nelson's Summertime" and then proceeds to play the bassline riff on his grand piano.[5]

Live performances

"Black Night" made its way into the setlist soon after release, generally as the first encore. The song was not played in full after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band in 1973, but snippets were often played by Ritchie Blackmore as part of his improvisations. On the reformation of Deep Purple in 1984 "Black Night" returned as part of the main set list. There are many versions of the song available on Deep Purple live albums.

Personnel

Covers

In addition, the song is played at the beginning of the French Movie Les Lyonnais (Which is known in English as A Gang Story ).

References

  1. Olivier Richard. CAMION BLANC: LA SOURIS DEGLINGUEE Histoire d'un groupe de rock'n'roll. CAMION BLANC. p. 9. ISBN 978-2-35779-476-4.
  2. Eddie Trunk (30 August 2011). Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Abrams. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-61312-142-9.
  3. "The Making of Black Night". Rumba Magazine. 1993. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  4. Smith, Sid (2007-04-18). "Deep Purple In Rock Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  5. BBC-Heavy Metal Brittania: at the 42:30 timeframe of the programme

Book references

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