"Goodnight Tonight" is a song by the British–American rock band

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

. Written and produced by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, it was released as a non-album single on 23 March 1979 by

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

in the UK and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in the US. It was recorded during the sessions for the band's 1979 album ''

Back to the Egg ''Back to the Egg'' is the seventh and final studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, released in June 1979 on Columbia Records in America (their first for the label), and on Parlophone in the UK. Co-produced by Chris Thomas, ...

'' and is notable for its disco-inflected sound and spirited

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

break.

Recording

"Goodnight Tonight" began as an instrumental backing track McCartney had recorded in 1978. Needing a single for Wings to accompany the ''Back to the Egg'' album, McCartney took out the track and brought it into the studio, where the full Wings line-up completed it.

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

and

Laurence Juber Laurence Ivor Juber (born 12 November 1952) is an English musician, fingerstyle guitarist and studio musician. He played guitar in the rock band Wings from 1978 to 1981. Biography Early life Born in Stepney, East London, Juber was raised and ...

added electric guitars, mirroring Paul's parts and Steve Holley added percussion, while the whole band sang in the chorus. Since the track was over seven minutes long, an edited version was used as the single, with the full version available as a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

. A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was made for the song, showing Wings performing in 1930s costumes; stills from the video were used on the single's sleeve. In the US, the single was the first released under McCartney's new deal with

Release

The track did not appear on Wings' then-current album ''

'' (from which sessions this song was recorded), as McCartney felt it did not fit the theme of the LP; it was later included on the McCartney compilations ''

All the Best! ''All the Best!'' is the second official compilation album of Paul McCartney's music, after 1978's ''Wings Greatest''. It was released in 1987 on Capitol Records and Parlophone Records. Background The album contains tracks from the beginning ...

'' (1987), '' Wingspan: Hits and History'' (2001) and '' Pure McCartney'' (2016). The 7" version was released as a bonus track on the 1993 remastered CD of ''

McCartney II ''McCartney II'' is the second solo album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 16 May 1980. It was recorded by McCartney at his home studio in the summer of 1979, shortly before the dissolution of his band Wings in 1981. Like his fir ...

'', as part of ''

The Paul McCartney Collection ''The Paul McCartney Collection'' is a series of 16 remastered CDs by Paul McCartney of his solo and Wings albums, with most adding bonus tracks. The albums in the collection were released separately, with the first eight released on 7 June 1993 ...

''. The B-side of this single was " Daytime Nighttime Suffering". An extended version of the song appears on a digital

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re-issue of ''Back to the Egg''.

Charts and reception

"Goodnight Tonight" was an international hit, reaching number five on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, McCartney's former songwriting partner, later commented that he did not care for the song, but enjoyed McCartney's

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

on the single. The single was

certified Gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of over one million copies. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said it was an unusual song for McCartney in that the "percussion undercurrents and muscular bass playing is likely to receive disco play" and said that the " acoustic and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s offer interesting flourishes." '' Record World'' called it "a semi-serious disco tune featuring every conceivable studio technique and a hook you can boogie (or sing) along with."

Track listings

;7" single (R 6023) # "Goodnight Tonight" – 4:15 # " Daytime Nighttime Suffering" – 3:19 ;12" single (12 YR 6023) # "Goodnight Tonight" (Long Version) – 7:15 # "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" – 3:19

Personnel

– lead vocals, acoustic and electric lead guitars, bass, drums * Linda McCartney – harmony and backing vocals, keyboards *

– backing vocals, lead guitar *

– backing vocals, lead guitar * Steve Holley – backing vocals, percussion

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References in popular culture

The song was featured in the 2010 film '' Grown Ups.''

References

{{authority control 1978 songs 1979 singles Disco songs Columbia Records singles Music published by MPL Music Publishing Parlophone singles Paul McCartney songs Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Songs written by Paul McCartney Paul McCartney and Wings songs Songs about nights