"Open All Night" is a song written and recorded by rock musician
Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album ''
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
''.
History
Of the 10 songs on ''Nebraska'', "Open All Night" is the only one to feature an
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 gu ...
. With a
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
-style guitar riff, the song tells the story of an unnamed narrator's all-night drive across industrial
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
to reach his girl, Wanda, whom he met when she was a waitress at the Route 60
Bob's Big Boy
Bob's Big Boy is a restaurant chain founded by Bob Wian in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry. It is now part of Big Boy Restaurant Group, the current primary trademark owner and franchisor of the Big Boy system. At its ...
.
"Open All Night" was released as a single in the
UK, backed by "The Big Payback",
but did not chart. It was also released as a single in
The Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.
Though never released as a single in the United States,
it garnered enough
album oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-orient ...
airplay to reach
#22 on the U.S. Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
Springsteen performed this song infrequently until the
Sessions Band Tour of 2006, when it was transformed into an eight-minute "show-stopping rave-up" whose already surreal lyrics
were made more strange by being
rapped against a
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
swing arrangement and a pseudo-
Andrews Sisters female backing vocal trio.
This is the version that appears on the ''
Live in Dublin'' CD and DVD.
Jay Farrar
Jay Farrar (born December 26, 1966) is an American songwriter and musician currently based in St. Louis. A member of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond his estab ...
of
Son Volt
Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and Ma ...
recorded a version which was released in 2005 on ''
A Retrospective: 1995–2000''.
In November 2014
Pearl Jam covered the song in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Personnel
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:
*
Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar
References
{{Authority control
1982 singles
Bruce Springsteen songs
Songs written by Bruce Springsteen
Columbia Records singles
1982 songs
Song recordings produced by Bruce Springsteen