"Walkin' After Midnight" is a song written by Alan Block and Don Hecht and recorded by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

. The song was originally given to pop singer

Kay Starr Katherine Laverne Starks (July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016), known professionally as Kay Starr, was an American singer who enjoyed considerable success in the late 1940s and 1950s. She was of Iroquois and Irish heritage. Starr performed multip ...

; however, her label rejected it. The song was left unused until Hecht rediscovered it when writing for

Four Star Records 4 Star Records was a record label that recorded many well-known country music acts in the 1950s. The label, founded after World War II, was home to singers such as Hank Locklin, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Rose Maddox, Webb Pierce, Cousin Ford Lew ...

. Originally Cline was not fond of "Walkin' After Midnight", but after making a compromise with her label she recorded it. However, the first released recording was by Lynn Howard with The Accents, released August 1956. In January 1957, Cline performed the song on an episode of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television program ''

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' (also known as ''Talent Scouts'') was an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting ''Arthur Godf ...

''. It garnered a strong response from viewers and was therefore rush-released as a single on February 11, 1957. "Walkin' After Midnight" became Cline's first major hit single, reaching No. 2 on the ''

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 music chart and No. 12 on its

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

. Although the song was her only hit until 1961, the single version sold over one million copies and is often included on authoritative lists of the all-time greatest songs in country music.

Background and composition

Alan Block and Donn Hecht wrote the song in 1954, a few years before Cline recorded it. According to Hecht, after securing a songwriting contract with Four Star Records, his assignment was to pick an artist from the label whom he could compose a song for. Hecht was impressed by Cline's vocals and realized her voice was best suited to

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

. Among his catalog of pop-styled songs was "Walkin' After Midnight", originally intended for traditional pop artist

, and written in the key of B-flat. Starr's record label had rejected the original version, and it was left unused for years. Hecht pawned his furniture, had a demo made with singer Lynn Howard, and played the demo for Cline's producer, who then played it to Cline over the telephone. Her first reaction to "Walkin' After Midnight" was negative; however, Hecht and Four Star owner Bill McCall came to an agreement with her. The compromise was that Cline would record it as long as she could also record " A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)", a song she favored. "Walkin' After Midnight" was then recorded at the Bradley Film and Recording Studios on November 8, 1956 and was produced by

Paul Cohen Paul Joseph Cohen (April 2, 1934 – March 23, 2007) was an American mathematician. He is best known for his proofs that the continuum hypothesis and the axiom of choice are independent from Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, for which he was award ...

(with assistance from Owen Bradley), along with "A Poor Man's Roses", "The Heart You Break May Be Your Own", and "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down". "Walkin' After Midnight" is a

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

song with stylistic elements taken from the genres of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. The song was recorded in the key of

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and ...

and follows the traditional

AABA form The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

followed by a short instrumental solo and a repeat of sections B and A. "Walkin' After Midnight" features instrumentation from an acoustic guitar, basic drums and piano,

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

, electric guitar, and acoustic bass. Its session members were part of

The Nashville A-Team The Nashville A-Team was a nickname given to a group of session musicians in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, who earned wide acclaim in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. They backed dozens of popular singers, including Elvis Presley, Eddy Arnold, Pats ...

of musicians, who played on most of the recording sessions on

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

and

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. Among the musicians were

Harold Bradley Harold Ray Bradley (January 2, 1926 – January 31, 2019) was an American guitarist and entrepreneur, who played on many country, rock and pop recordings and produced numerous TV variety shows and movie soundtracks. Having started as a session ...

Grady Martin Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly. A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' " El Paso", Loretta Lynn's " Co ...

, and

Bob Moore Bob Loyce Moore (November 30, 1932 – September 22, 2021) was an American session musician, orchestra leader, and double bassist who was a member of the Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on over 17,000 documented recor ...

, all of whom would later play on Cline's later records in the early 1960s.

Don Helms Donald "Don" Hugh Helms (February 28, 1927 – August 11, 2008) was a steel guitarist best known as the steel guitar player of Hank Williams's Drifting Cowboys group. He was a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame (1984). Biography Helms was ...

, formerly of

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

' band the Drifting Cowboys, played the steel guitar.

Reception

Critical reception

Alanna Nash of the book ''Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Country Music in America'', called "Walkin' After Midnight" "bluesy"; Richie Unterberger of ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' also praised the song, calling its beat "bouncy" and its overall sound different from

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

and

of the time. Unterberger went on to say, "While Cline's vocal is a little restrained in comparison with the approach she used on her better-known sides in the early 1960s, it's well-suited for the almost bemused aura of loneliness of the lyric. More than any of the other songs she recorded for the 4 Star label in the 1950s, it anticipates the successful country-pop fusion of her crossover hits for Decca in the early 1960s."

Impact and chart performance

On January 21, 1957, Cline was invited to perform a song on the

television program hosted by

Arthur Godfrey Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...

entitled, ''

,'' a talent competition made up of rising young, unknown professionals. She originally intended to perform " A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)" on the show, but the producers preferred "Walkin' After Midnight." Against her wishes, Cline performed the song during the program's 8:30 pm slot. The excessive audience applause froze the show's applause meter, and Cline won first place on that night's show. Because of the strong response,

(Four Star leased their music to Decca) released "Walkin' After Midnight" as a single on February 11, 1957. It quickly debuted on the ''Billboard'' charts, eventually peaking at No. 2 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart and No. 12 on the

Pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

by March 3. "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)" was released as the single's

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 ...

, also charting on the ''Billboard'' Country chart at No. 14. Because "Walkin' After Midnight" had become a significant hit, Decca issued Cline's debut album August 5, 1957, simply titled, ''

''. The album, however, did not contain the flip side. Cline later re-recorded "Walkin' After Midnight" for Decca with a more "pop" arrangement that featured backing vocals and a pronounced "clip clop" percussion effect, as well as a modulation to the key of C# for the final verse. Although this version is sometimes heard as an "oldie" on country playlists, it is not the version that was the hit single. Cline's vocals from this recording were overdubbed with a jazzier arrangement for the soundtrack of Cline's biopic Sweet Dreams.

Track listing

7" vinyl single * "Walkin' After Midnight" – 2:32 * " A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)" – 2:45

Personnel

Original 1956 recording *

– acoustic guitar * Owen Bradley – associate producer, piano * Farris Coursey – drums *

–

* Tommy Jackson – fiddle *

– electric guitar *

– acoustic bass *

– producer Re-recorded 1961 version * Harold Bradley – 6-string electric bass * Owen Bradley – producer *

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatu ...

– organ *

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry ...

– drums *

Walter Haynes Walter Haynes (December 14, 1928 – January 1, 2009) was an American steel guitarist and music producer who worked with such artists as Patsy Cline Jimmy Dickens, Del Reeves, The Everly Brothers and Jeanne Pruett. He also co-wrote a number ...

– steel guitar * Randy Hughes – acoustic guitar *

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

– backing vocals * Grady Martin – electric guitar * Bob Moore – acoustic bass *

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig," was an American session keyboard player. Having played on records for many artists, including John Stewart, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Lore ...

– piano

Charts

Weekly charts

Notes

References

* * {{Authority control 1957 singles Patsy Cline songs Decca Records singles Song recordings produced by Owen Bradley 1957 songs