Here Comes the Night (The Beach Boys song)

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"Here Comes the Night"
Song by The Beach Boys
from the album Wild Honey
ReleasedDecember 18, 1967 (1967-12-18)
RecordedOctober 26, 1967
StudioBeach Boys Studio
GenreWhite soul[1]
Length2:41
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)The Beach Boys

"Here Comes the Night" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band The Beach Boys. It was originally released on their 1967 album, Wild Honey. In 1979, the song was re-recorded and released on their 1979 album, L.A. (Light Album), as a disco song lasting nearly eleven minutes.

Composition[]

Author Andrew Hickey noted: "This is a rather by-the-numbers song which however manages the interesting trick of having the chorus apparently lose its tonal centre altogether – normally one would have a harmonically simple chorus while the verses are complex, but this has simple verses in C but a chorus whose chords are Cmin, Ab7 and F, which are chords that just should not go together."[2] Producer Curt Boettcher contributed to the arrangement.[1]

1979 disco version[]

"Here Comes the Night"
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album L.A. (Light Album)
B-side"Baby Blue"
ReleasedFebruary 19, 1979
GenreDisco
Length10:51 (Album Version)
4:28 (7" Version)
LabelBrother/Caribou/CBS
Songwriter(s)Brian Wilson
Mike Love
Producer(s)
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Peggy Sue"
(1978) 		"Here Comes the Night"
(1979) 		"Good Timin'"
(1979)
L.A. (Light Album) track listing
10 tracks
Side one
  1. "Good Timin'"
  2. "Lady Lynda"
  3. "Full Sail"
  4. "Angel Come Home"
  5. "Love Surrounds Me"
  6. "Sumahama"
Side two
  2. "Here Comes the Night"
  3. "Baby Blue"
  4. "Goin' South"
  5. "Shortenin' Bread"

The 1979 disco version of the song, produced by Bruce Johnston and Curt Becher, is over eight minutes longer than the original song. There are five edits of this disco version. The first edit appears on the L.A. (Light Album), while the second edit was released on a 12" single release (Caribou/Brother/CBS 2Z8-9028). The third edit was the B-side of the 12" single, which is a slightly shorter instrumental (backing track) version of the song. The fourth and fifth version of the song is found on the 7" single release (Caribou/Brother/CBS ZS8 9026)(DJ version). Despite the dominance of disco music at the time of song's release, this version of "Here Comes the Night" peaked at #48 on the Disco Top 80 chart.[3]

Variations
  • Time: 10 min 51 sec (album version)
  • Time: 10 min 36 sec (12" single edit)
  • Time: 9 min 4 sec (12" instrumental edit)
  • Time: 4 min 28 sec (7" single edit) long version
  • Time: 3 min 18 sec (7" single edit) short version

Reception[]

Reviewing the song in 1979, Smash Hits said, "Hard, fast electro-burble and swirling strings pound along beneath snatches of harmonising voices and a lot of solo lead singing of an unremarkable song. It's OK but there are plenty of better disco tracks about."[4]

Personnel[]

1967 version[]

Sourced from Craig Slowinski.[5]

1979 re-recording[]

Partial info sourced from Craig Slowiniski.[6]

The Beach Boys

Additional personnel

References[]

  1. ^ a b White, Timothy (1996). The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys, and the Southern Californian Experience. Macmillan. p. 276. ISBN 0333649370.
  2. ^ * Hickey, Andrew (2011). The Beach Boys On CD: Volume 1 1961-1969. lulu.com. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-4475-4233-9.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 31.
  4. ^ Cliff White (5 April 1979). "singles". Smash Hits. No. 9.
  5. ^ Slowinski liner notes, ESQ Issue 121.
  6. ^ "Whose idea was it to discofy "Here Comes the Night" in 1979?".
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