"Wild Night" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

and is the opening track on his fifth studio album ''

Tupelo Honey ''Tupelo Honey'' is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in October 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. Morrison had written all of the songs on the album in Woodstock, New York, before his move to ...

''. It was released as a single in 1971 and reached number 28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. In 2022, the song peaked at #1 on the radio airplay chart in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Morrison has continued to perform it in concerts throughout his career and it has been recorded by many artists and bands. A new version recorded by

John Mellencamp John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrument ...

and

Meshell Ndegeocello Michelle Lynn Johnson, better known as Meshell Ndegeocello (; born August 29, 1968), is a German-born American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on so ...

in 1994 peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the summer of that year and reached number one in Canada for three weeks.

Recording and composition

"Wild Night" was first recorded during a session with

Lewis Merenstein Lewis Merenstein (October 23, 1934 – September 6, 2016) was an American record producer, most famous as the producer of the Van Morrison album ''Astral Weeks'', and as executive producer for ''Moondance'', Morrison's 1970 album. ''Astral Weeks'' ...

as producer at Warners Publishing Studio in New York City in autumn 1968. The version released on ''Tupelo Honey'' was recorded in spring 1971 at

Wally Heider Studios Wally Heider Studios was a recording studio founded in San Francisco in 1969 by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider. Between 1969 and 1980, numerous notable artists recorded at the studios, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jeff ...

in San Francisco with

Ted Templeman Edward John "Ted" Templeman (born October 24, 1942) is an American record producer. Among the acts he has a long relationship with are the rock bands Van Halen and the Doobie Brothers and the singer Van Morrison; he produced multiple criticall ...

as producer.

Reception

Tom Maginnis in

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 ...

describes it as: "an effusive three and a half minutes of

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface (API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read in ...

-inspired R&B, buoyed by a sweet guitar lick from

Ronnie Montrose Ronald Douglas Montrose (November 29, 1947 – March 3, 2012) was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie H ...

of such quality that would make

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...

proud." ''

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 ...

'' described the song as an "intriguing self penned composition," praising the "electrifying vocal and musical performance" Reviewing ''Tupelo Honey'' in ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' magazine, David Cavanagh wrote of "Wild Night": "Recorded live in the studio (as all Morrison's albums are), it sounds intricately layered, highly sophisticated by 2007's standards, like speeded-up

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...

meets

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descri ...

. It's fluid but meticulous; ultra-rehearsed but effortless. It promises a party to come." "Wild Night" as originally recorded by Morrison was rated at No. 747 on

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born March 1, 1950) is an American music critic, and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of ''Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone (magazine), ...

's 1989 book, ''The Heart of Rock and Soul, The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever''.

Other releases

"Wild Night" has remained a popular tune performed by Morrison at many of his concerts from 1970 to 2009. It featured as one of the closing songs during his appearance as the first day headline act at the

Austin City Limits Music Festival The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-based ...

in September 2006. It was included in the Limited Edition Album, ''

Live at Austin City Limits Festival ''Live at Austin City Limits Festival'' by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison is a limited edition live album recorded from the Austin City Limits Festival concert at which he was the first night headliner on 15 September 2006. It has ...

'' recorded from the performance. The song was used on the soundtrack of the movie '' Twenty Four Seven'' and as such is one of the nineteen movie hits featured on Morrison's 2007 compilation album, ''

Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

''. The original as remastered in 2007 is one of the hits included on the compilation album, ''

Still on Top - The Greatest Hits A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...

''. "Wild Night" was included on the 2003 (10 CD) set ''Ultimate Seventies Collection'' by Time-Life. A live performance is also one of the songs performed on Morrison's 1980 concert disc on the ''

Live at Montreux 1980/1974 ''Live at Montreux 1980/1974'' is the first official DVD by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 16 October 2006. The films consist of two separate performances by Van Morrison at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switz ...

'' DVD released in 2006.

Personnel

*Van Morrison – rhythm guitar, vocals *

– electric guitars *Bill Church – bass *Luis Gasca – trumpet *

Gary Mallaber Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946 in Buffalo) is a Los Angeles session drummer, percussionist and singer. He attended Lafayette High School, where he and Bobby Militello, along with other musicians, were mentored by saxophonist Sam Scam ...

– percussion *

John McFee John McFee (born September 9, 1950, Santa Cruz, California) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist, and long-time member of The Doobie Brothers. Biography Some of McFee's early and non-Doobie ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

Rick Shlosser Rick Shlosser is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He has been a member of Van Morrison's band and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He's also been a varied sessions drummer. Discography 1970s * Andy Pratt - ''Records Are Like Life'' (1 ...

– drums *Jack Schroer –

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

and

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

Charts

Release history

Martha Reeves version

In 1974,

Martha Reeves Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", " Nowhere to R ...

recorded a version of the song for her self-titled debut solo album, and was released as a single. it reached number seventy-four on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

s and at number 95 in Australia. Reeves' version of the song was featured in the 1991 film ''

Thelma & Louise ''Thelma & Louise'' is a 1991 American road crime comedy-drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. It stars Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unfores ...

''.

Charts

Release history

John Mellencamp and Meshell Ndegeocello version

American musicians

and

recorded a version of "Wild Night" and released it as a single in 1994. The song was included on Mellencamp's 1994 album, ''

Dance Naked ''Dance Naked'' is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp released on June 21, 1994. The album was released in response to the record company's accusations that Mellencamp's previous album, ''Human Wheels'', di ...

'' and an "acoustic" remix was released as a promotional single for radio. This version of the song reached number three on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during mid-1994 and remained in the top 40 for 33 weeks. It also topped the US

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart for eight weeks, the Canadian ''

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 ...

'' Top Singles chart for three weeks, and the ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary chart for one week. It sold 500,000 copies in the US. A live version by Mellencamp and Ndegeocello appears on Mellencamp's 1999 album ''

Rough Harvest ''Rough Harvest'' is the 16th album by American singer John Mellencamp, a collection of alternate, acoustic arrangements of his favorite tracks, as well as several covers, released on August 17, 1999. Recorded mostly in 1997 (with the exception ...

''.

Music videos

Two music videos were filmed for "Wild Night". The first music video for "Wild Night" features Mellencamp, his backing band, and Ndegeocello performing the song in a hall and basement, and continues throughout the video. Another video for "Wild Night" was filmed, it begins when a cab driver in Chicago (portrayed by American model Shana Zadrick) turns on the radio, the song comes on, gets dressed for work (matching with the opening lyrics) and drives around her various fares (with passengers such as a filmmaker, driving past a place with a sign that reads "60s-70s Dance Hits", possibly a reference to the original or Reeves's version, Mellencamp's then-drummer

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ene ...

, a Newlywed couple, a Man and his Dogs, a Surfer, and many more) intercut with scenes from the first video, with a few minor differences.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

References

* Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press, *''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 6th Edition, 1996 {{Authority control 1971 singles 1974 singles 1994 singles Van Morrison songs John Mellencamp songs Meshell Ndegeocello songs Songs written by Van Morrison Male–female vocal duets RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Ted Templeman 1971 songs Warner Records singles MCA Records singles Mercury Records singles Song recordings produced by Van Morrison