Right Time of the Night

"Right Time of the Night"

picture sleeve of February 1983 UK release
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
Songwriter(s) Peter McCann
Producer(s) Jim Ed Norman
Jennifer Warnes singles chronology
"These Days"
(1972)		 "Right Time of the Night"
(1977)		 "I'm Dreaming"
(1977)

"These Days"
(1972)
(as Jennifer)		 "Right Time of the Night"
(1976)		 "I'm Dreaming"
(1977)

"Right Time of the Night" is the title of a 1976 composition by Peter McCann which became a Top Ten hit single in 1977 via a recording by Jennifer Warnes.

Composition

Peter McCann would recall his inspiration for writing "Right Time of the Night": "I was out at the beach at Malibu, and it was one of those perfect sunsets. I was there for the entire evening, and the sun went down and the stars came out. But...and it was totally accidental — I didn’t mention the beach [or] anything like that [in the lyrics] because that would have regionalized [the song]."[1] McCann had been working as a staff writer for American Broadcasting Music for roughly a year without composing a high-profile song: McCann - "I played ['Right Time of the Night'] for [boss] Gerry Teifer...For the first time...he let me play [a] whole song through, and then he did something he’d never done before. He said: 'Play that again.' I played it again, and he goes: 'Wait here.' He brought in everybody in the building who was working there and said 'Play it.' I played it, and they all cheered and went nuts. I thought it was just another song I had written, but apparently not."[1]

As originally written and as recorded by Peter McCann for his 1977 self-titled album, "Right Time of the Night", which would serve as B-side for McCann's own 1977 Top Ten hit "Do You Wanna Make Love", featured a distinct second verse from that eventually recorded by Jennifer Warnes: Warnes herself wrote lyrics for a less overtly masculine second verse which McCann rejected, eventually himself writing new second verse lyrics deemed female-friendly. 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.

"Right Time of the Night" was one of seven songs which McCann played for Clive Davis, president of Arista Records (for whom Jennifer Warnes recorded) when he (i.e. McCann) was making the rounds of auditions in hopes of being signed as a recording artist. McCann would recall Davis saying: "I don't like you as an artist, but I'm taking six of the seven songs." "Right Time of the Night" was one of the six songs Davis optioned (the one song Davis passed on was "Do You Wanna Make Love" which would afford McCann a Top Ten hit when he recorded it after being signed with 20th Century Records.)[2]

Recording by Jennifer Warnes

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'."[3]

Warnes had recorded the original tracks intended 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."[4] Recorded at Davlen Sound Studios (Los Angeles), "Right Time of the Night" was remixed by Val Garay. Warnes' recording of the song features a lyrically distinct second verse from the McCann original: Warnes herself wrote lyrics for a less overtly masculine second verse which McCann rejected, eventually himself writing new second verse lyrics deemed female-friendly.

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'."[5]

Warnes would say 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."[6]

Impact

Recorded in 1976 [7] and issued in January 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.[8] The first of three #1 Adult Contemporary hits for Warnes,[4] "Right Time of the Night" also became the first Arista release to reach the C&W chart, where it peaked at #17: the single's promotion in Nashville - the hub of C&W music - was handled by the Nashville office of ABC Music Productions who were the publishers of the song. [9]

Chart performance

US charts Peak
position
US Hot 100 Billboard 6
US Easy Listening Billboard [10] 1
Hot Country Singles Billboard 17
International charts Peak
position
Australian Top Singles Kent Music Report 33
Canadian Top Singles RPM 3
Canadian Adult Contemporary RPM 1
Canadian Country Playlist RPM 18
Year-end charts (1977) Rank
Canada Top Singles [11] 40
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] 34
US Billboard Easy Listening [13] 11

1983 UK release

Failing to chart in its original 4 March 1977 UK release, Warnes' "Right Time of the Night" was reissued in the UK in February 1983: Arista, who had dropped Warnes from its roster in 1981, packaged the UK re-release in a picture sleeve and replaced the original B-side "Daddy Don't Go" with "I'm Restless". Warnes' duet with Joe Cocker: "Up Where We Belong" (on Island Records), was in the UK Top Ten in February 1983 but this apparently failed to afford any prestige to the re-release of "Right Time of the Night" which again proved a UK chart shortfall.[14]

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'. Eva Dahlgren recorded the song with her self-penned Swedish lyrics as "Finns Det Nån Som Bryr Sig Om" which served as the title cut for Dahlgren's 1978 debut album. "Right Time of the Night" has also been recorded by Tracy Huang (zh), by Dominic Kirwan, by Danny Ray with Shirley James, and by Anita Sarawak.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Jennifer Warnes hit came at 'Right Time' for songwriter". The Tennessean (Tennessean.com). Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Billboard vol 89 #30 (30 July 1977) p.16
  3. ↑ Billboard 26 November 1977 v.89 #47 p.89
  4. 1 2 Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Warnes, Jennifer (November 13, 2007). "Interview,Jennifer Warnes". Bob Edwards Show (Interview). Interview with Bob Edwards. XM Radio.
  7. ↑ "Image 292 (thumbnail): Jennifer Warnes - Right Time of the Night". 45cat.com. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  8. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  9. ↑ Cash Box 19 March 1977 p. 35
  10. ↑ "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard. 1977-04-16. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  11. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  12. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1977/Top 100 Songs of 1977". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  13. ↑ Billboard vol 89 #51 (24 December 1977) p. 76
  14. ↑ "Jennifer Warnes Discography - UK". 45cat.com. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
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