650! That’s a party, right? Right?
No?
Oh, okay.
Patti Smith Group – Because the Night
label: Arista
year: 1978
side a: Because the Night
side b: God Speed
www.pattismith.net
One of those tracks I had to play almost every Friday at the place where I started spinning rekkids at the tender age of sixteen. In the early hours, before the young’uns would arrive, there was always some older regular asking for this song. And it was policy to play everything the people asked for (provided we had the tunes, of course), as it was to announce every song preferrably with something “funny” added to it, which made for some pretty cheesy tapes (I recorded a couple of the sessions, still have the tapes somewhere).
So I pretty much learned the lyrics of this track by heart, like the code under which the 45 was filed in the enormous 7″ cabinet. It has been more than twenty years (oh dear) so I don’t remember the code anymore, but most of the lyrics of “Because the Night” are still there. I bought the single for sentimental reasons I guess, but also because I like it. It’s on the Easter album, and B-side “God Speed” was added to the CD re-issue as a bonus track. I think I saw her play live once at some festival, Torhout-Werchter maybe?
Damn I’m old.
Here’s a video of Patti Smith doing an acapella version of “Because the Night” in Hopenhagen, 2008.