"Night Time Is the Right Time" or "The Right Time" is a

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

song recorded by American musician Nappy Brown in 1957. It draws on earlier blues songs and has inspired popular versions, including those by

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

, Rufus and Carla, and James Brown, which reached the record charts.

Earlier songs

Blues pianist

Roosevelt Sykes Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "the Honeydripper". Career Sykes was born the son of a musician in Elmar, Arkansas. "Just a little old sawmill town", Sykes said of his birthplace. The ...

(listed as "the Honey Dripper") recorded "Night Time Is the Right Time" in 1937. Called "one of his 'hits' of the day", it is a moderate-tempo twelve-bar blues that features Sykes on vocal and piano. It has been suggested that it was "drawn from the old vaudeville tradition": In 1938,

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

recorded the song, as "Night Time Is the Right Time No. 2," with slightly different (and more suggestive) lyrics. The same year, Roosevelt Sykes recorded a new version, similarly entitled "Night Time Is the Right Time #2," also with slightly different lyrics. These earliest recordings of "Night Time Is the Right Time" are credited to Roosevelt Sykes and

Leroy Carr Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Mus ...

. Carr died in 1935 without any known recordings of the song; "Night Time Is The Right Time" bears similarity to Carr's "When The Sun Goes Down".

Nappy Brown song

In 1957, Nappy Brown recorded the song as "The Right Time". Called "a highlight of Brown's early career", his version features additional lyrics with background singers answering his vocal lines. The instrumental accompaniment is provided by

Buster Cooper George "Buster" Cooper (April 4, 1929 – May 13, 2016) was an American jazz trombonist. Career A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, Cooper played in a territory band with Nat Towles in Texas in the late 1940s and with Lionel Hamp ...

on trombone, Hilton Jefferson on alto sax,

Budd Johnson Albert J. "Budd" Johnson III (December 14, 1910 – October 20, 1984) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who worked extensively with, among others, Ben Webster, Benny Goodman, Big Joe Turner, Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke ...

on tenor sax, Kelly Owens on piano, Skeeter Best on guitar,

Leonard Gaskin Leonard Gaskin (August 25, 1920 – January 24, 2009) was an American jazz bassist born in New York City. Gaskin played on the early bebop scene at Minton's and Monroe's in New York in the early 1940s. In 1944 he took over Oscar Pettiford's ...

on bass, and

Bobby Donaldson Robert Stanley "Bobby" Donaldson (November 29, 1922, Boston – 1971) was an American jazz and R&B drummer. After playing locally in the early 1940s, Donaldson played with Russell Procope while serving in the Army in New York City. In 1946–47 ...

on drums. Brown's song opens with Brown's version did not reach the national record charts, but was "borrowed by Ray Charles in short order". During his career, Brown recorded several versions of the song (sometimes varying the title). His original single lists the songwriter as "N. Brown".

Ray Charles version

Ray Charles recorded his version, titled "(Night Time Is) The Right Time", on October 28, 1958, at the Atlantic Records studio in New York City. According to Brown, "The difference between me and Ray Charles's ‘Night Time Is the Right Time'... is he had it up-tempo with Mary Ann and them behind him—the ladies. I had mine in a slow tempo with a gospel group behind me. That was my gospel group. But he got everything just like mine, note for note".

Margie Hendrix Marjorie "Margie" Hendrix (sometimes Hendricks) (March 13, 1935 – July 14, 1973) was an American rhythm and blues singer and founding member of the Raelettes, who were the backing singers for Ray Charles, the father of her child, Charles Wa ...

with Charles' backup singers the

Raelettes The Raelettes (or occasionally The Raelets or The Raeletts) were an American girl group formed in 1958 to provide backing vocals for Ray Charles. They were reformed from the group The Cookies. Between 1966 and 1973, the Raelettes recorded on ...

provided the accompaniment to Charles' vocals. Released as a single, it reached number five on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 95 on its Hot 100 chart in 1959. The songwriters were listed as "

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

- Cadena-

Herman Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Min ...

" on the single and the albums '' Ray Charles in Person'' (1960) and '' The Genius Sings the Blues'' (1961); however, some later anthologies only list Lew Herman, also known as Herman Lubinsky, who was the owner of Nappy Brown's record label. The song is also included on '' Ray Charles at Newport'' (1958) and the

film soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of '' Ray'' (2004). In the second season episode of ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class Africa ...

'' "Happy Anniversary", the Huxtable family lip-syncs to Ray Charles' version. CNN's Lisa Respers France stated "No 'Cosby Show' list is complete without this family performance...

Keshia Knight Pulliam Keshia Knight Pulliam (born April 9, 1979) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor, and landed her breakthrough role as Rudy Huxtable, on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), which earned her a nomination for ...

stole our hearts as little Rudy Huxtable in this scene." while Vulture called it ''The Cosby Show''s best musical moment. In 1997, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' ranked this episode number 54 on its '100 Greatest Episodes of All Time' list.

James Brown version

James Brown recorded the song for the small Churchill/Augusta record label. It was released in 1983 as the B-side of his single " Bring It On...Bring It On". Brown's version (subtitled "To be With the One That You Love") went on to reach number 73 in the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. Robert Christgau reviewed Brown's version favorably, singling out for praise the contribution of its unidentified female guest vocalist, "a Brownette who approaches any kind of note as if she owns it."

References

{{authority control 1937 songs Blues songs Roosevelt Sykes songs 1957 singles Savoy Records singles 1958 singles Ray Charles songs 1983 singles James Brown songs Songwriter unknown