"It's Midnight Cinderella" is a song co-written 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, ...

singer

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

. It was released in June 1996 as the fifth single from his album '' Fresh Horses''. The song reached a peak of number 5 on the U.S. country charts in mid-1996. It was written by Brooks,

Kent Blazy Kent Blazy (born in Lexington, Kentucky) is an American country music songwriter. His credits include several singles for Garth Brooks (including Brooks' first number one hit, "If Tomorrow Never Comes"), as well as singles by Gary Morris, Diamon ...

and Kim Williams.

Content

"It's Midnight Cinderella" is an up-tempo where the male narrator makes passes on a female via allusions to the

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

fairy tale. In the verses, it is revealed that the female's partner has left her ("I guess your Prince Charming wasn't, after all"). The narrator, in the second verse, then describes his plan to have sex with her ("Gonna learn to love midnight inside this pumpkin shell").

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

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 ...

cited the song as a standout track on ''Fresh Horses'', calling the song "sassy" and "suggestive", and saying that it worked because Brooks "lets his guard down" on the song.

Alanna Nash Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer. Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books. She is a 1972 graduat ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' called it a "bordering-on-risqué fairy tale ��that pushes the envelope of country lyrics."

Chart performance

"It's Midnight Cinderella" made its chart debut on ''

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 ...

'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now

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 ...

) in December 1995 after the album's release, as an album cut along with " That Ol' Wind", "Rollin'", and then-current single "

The Beaches of Cheyenne "The Beaches of Cheyenne" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Garth Brooks. It was released in December 1995 as the third single from his sixth studio album '' Fresh Horses''. The song became Brooks's 15th '' Billb ...

". The song charted for several weeks as an album cut before reaching Top 40 on the chart week of July 20, 1996, and peaked at number 5 on the chart week of September 7.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1996 singles 1995 songs Songs based on fairy tales Garth Brooks songs Songs written by Garth Brooks Songs written by Kent Blazy Songs written by Kim Williams (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Allen Reynolds Capitol Records Nashville singles