"Tonight" is a song written by
Don Cook
Don Kirby Cook (born May 25, 1949) is an American record producer and songwriter whose work is mainly in the field of country music. Artists who recorded Cook's material include Barbara Mandrell, John Conlee, Mark Collie, Wade Hayes and Brooks & ...
and Rafe Van Hoy, and recorded by American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful music artist ...
. It was released in May 1978 as the second single from the album ''
Love's Ups and Downs''. It reached the top ten of the American country songs chart.
Background and recording
Barbara Mandrell had a series of charting singles at
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 ...
brought some early commercial success to her recording career. In 1975 she moved to
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
/
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...
and found a musical style that helped her reach her breakthrough.
This was crafted by producer
Tom Collins
The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. First memorialized in writing in 1876 by Jerry Thomas, "the father of American mixology", this "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically serv ...
, who helped bring a
Countrypolitan
The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough Honky tonk, honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruse ...
sound.
One of the singles she cut during this period was 1978's "Tonight". It was written by Rafe Van Hoy and Don Cook. Collins produced the track's recording session in June 1977 in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
.
Release and chart performance
"Tonight" was released as a single on ABC Records in August 1977. It was backed on the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
by the song "If I Were a River". The track was issued by the label as a
seven inch vinyl single.
The single spent 13 weeks on America's ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
country songs chart, peaking at number five by July 1978.
Outside of the country market, "Tonight" also charted on the ''Billboard''
Bubbling Under Hot 100
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...
singles chart, peaking at number three on the survey in 1978.
In Canada, the single climbed to the number 25 position on the ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' country chart.
The song was released on Mandrell's fourth ABC studio album called ''
Love's Ups and Downs''.
Track listing
7" vinyl single
* "Tonight" – 2:59
* "If I Were a River" – 3:06
Charts
References
{{Barbara Mandrell songs
1978 singles
1978 songs
ABC Records singles
Dot Records singles
Barbara Mandrell songs
Song recordings produced by Tom Collins (record producer)
Songs written by Don Cook
Songs written by Rafe Van Hoy