"Saturday Night at the Movies" is a song written by

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early li ...

and

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940) is an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Life and career Weil was born in New York City, and was raised in a Conservative Jewish family. Her father was Morris Wei ...

and performed by American vocal group

the Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...

with Johnny Moore as vocalist. The song was arranged and conducted by

Teacho Wiltshire George "Teacho" Wiltshire (born Audrick Gladstone Wiltshire; September 20, 1909 – September 29, 1968) was a Barbadian-born American R&B pianist, bandleader, arranger, A&R man, and songwriter, who had success in the 1950s and 1960s with mu ...

and produced by

Bert Berns Bertrand Russell Berns (November 8, 1929 – December 30, 1967), also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include "Twist and Shout", "Piece ...

. The song was released as a 1964 single, peaking at number 18 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number 35. The song charted again in the UK in March 1972 when reissued as a double A-side with "At the Club", peaking at number three on 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 ...

Personnel

The song was recorded on August 4, 1964, at Atlantic Studios in New York City. * Johnny Moore, lead tenor vocal * Charlie Thomas, tenor vocal * Eugene Pearson, baritone vocal * Johnny Terry, bass vocal *

Ernie Hayes Ernest George Hayes (6 November 1876 – 2 December 1953) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Surrey, Leicestershire and England. Ernie Hayes was a right-handed batsman, usually batting at No 3 and strong at driving and pull ...

, piano *

Everett Barksdale Everett Barksdale (April 28, 1910 – January 29, 1986) was an American jazz guitarist and session musician. He played bass and banjo before settling on guitar. In the 1930s, Barksdale moved to Chicago, where he was in Erskine Tate's band. He r ...

, guitar * Bill Suyker, guitar *

Bob Bushnell Robert C. Bushnell (1926 – January 31, 2016) was an American bass player and guitarist who has appeared on dozens of albums and singles as a studio musician, including Bobby Lewis's hit " Tossin' and Turnin'" (1961), " My Boyfriend's Back" ...

, guitar *

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

, bass *

Gary Chester Gary Chester (born Cesario Gurciullo; October 27, 1924 – August 17, 1987) was an American studio drummer, author, and teacher. Beginning in the 1960s, he played on hundreds of records for bands such as The Coasters, The Monkees, and The Lovin ...

, drums

Charts

Certifications

Other versions

* Inger Öst recorded the song with lyrics in Swedish by ''Green'' as ''På nian på lördag'', releasing it as a single in January 1968, with ''Öppna ditt hjärta'' (''Open Your Heart'') acting as a B-side. * In 1991, a version was featured in the horror movie ''

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

'' by Ossie D and Stevie G. * In 1996, a version was featured as track 5 on the album '' Take Two'', the second and final studio album by English pop-duo Robson and Jerome. It also features on both of the duo's compilation albums, titled "Happy Days - The Best Of" and "The Love Songs". * In 2002, the song was recorded by Swedish band

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

on the album ''

Världen utanför Världen utanför is a studio album by Barbados, released on 8 March 2002. For the album, the band was given a Grammis The Grammis are music awards presented annually to musicians and songwriters in Sweden. The oldest Swedish music awards, t ...

''. * In 2008, Swedish band Drifters recorded the song on the album '' Tycker om dig: Svängiga låtar från förr''. * In 2013, British vocal group

The Overtones The Overtones are a UK based vocal harmony group. They were discovered by a Warner Bros. Records' talent scout while working as decorators in a shop near Oxford Street, singing during their tea break. Their first album, '' Good Ol' Fashioned Lo ...

recorded the song on their album, also called ''Saturday Night at the Movies''. * In 2017, English singer

Joe McElderry Joseph McElderry (; born 16 June 1991) is an English singer and songwriter. He won the sixth series of the ITV show ''The X Factor'' in 2009. His first single " The Climb" reached number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Single ...

recorded the song on his #10 album, also titled ''Saturday Night at the Movies''.

References

{{Authority control 1964 singles The Drifters songs Songs written by Barry Mann Songs with lyrics by Cynthia Weil 1968 singles Drifters (Swedish band) songs Barbados (band) songs 1964 songs Atlantic Records singles