"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" is a song written by

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...

, and recorded at

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is an American recording studio in Sheffield, Alabama, formed in 1969 by four session musicians known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. They had left nearby FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals to create their own recor ...

Sheffield, Alabama Sheffield is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Shoals metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 9,039. Sheffield is the birthplace of "country-soul pioneer" and songwriter Arthu ...

for his 1976 album '' A Night on the Town''. The song, controversial at the time of release, proved to be a massive commercial success and became his second US chart topper on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It made its debut at number 81 on 2 October 1976 and rose quickly, climbing from number eight to the top of the chart on 13 November 1976, and remained on top for eight consecutive weeks until 8 January 1977. It was the longest stay of any song during 1976, the longest run at the top for a single in the US in over eight years (since

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’ "

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" in November 1968), and the longest stay at number one for Rod Stewart in his entire recording career, and the final number one of the US Bicentennial year. The song also peaked at No. 5 in the UK, No. 1 for six weeks in Canada, No. 3 in Australia and charted well in other parts of the world. It was the number 1 song on both ''Billboard''s 1977 year-end

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and the year-end Canadian singles chart. It became the best-selling single of 1977 in the United States. As of 2018, it is the nineteenth most popular song in the history of the chart.

Background and lyrics

According to

Dan Peek Daniel Milton Peek () was an American musician best known as a member of the folk rock band America from 1970 to 1977, together with Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell. He has been called a "pioneer in contemporary Christian music". Early life ...

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, Stewart's inspiration for "Tonight's the Night" was America's Top 30 hit " Today's the Day": Peek recalls that one evening when he and his guest Rod Stewart were playing together in Peek's home recording studio: "I played 'Today's the Day', the song I had been working on. Rod said that he liked it and that it gave him an idea for a song. Of course after his recording of 'Tonight's the Night' came out I laughed when I remembered what he'd said. I'm sure I probably smacked my forehead and said: 'Why didn't I think of that?'" The song features a French spoken part from

Britt Ekland Britt Ekland (; born Britt-Marie Eklund; 6 October 1942) is a Swedish actress, model and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in '' The Double Man'' (1967), ''The Night They Raided ...

who was Stewart's

girlfriend A girlfriend is a female friend, acquaintance or partner, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed relationship where the indi ...

at the time. While primarily recorded at Muscle Shoals, the final vocal was recorded at

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studios, where Stewart, Ekland and producer Tom Dowd spent several days. The high-altitude result was a vocal an octave higher than "sea-based" versions. Some radio stations play edits of the song, shortening the coda, as well as the whispers, because they were deemed to be too suggestive for airplay, where the songs could be banned from being played on the air. The saxophone solo is by

Jerry Jumonville Jerome Noel Jumonville (December 5, 1941 – December 7, 2019), better known as Jerry Jumonville, was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He began playing the saxophone as teenager. Jumonv ...

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Cover versions

In 1993, Stewart recorded a live version of the song during his session for ''

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''. This version was included on the album '' Unplugged...and Seated''. The song has been remade by such artists as:

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, and sung by

Anthony Kavanagh Anthony Kavanagh (born September 26, 1969) is a Canadian stand up comedian, actor, singer and TV presenter. After a successful career on the francophone stand-up scene in Quebec, he became a major star in France and is now a popular television h ...

, Terry Steele, who reached number forty-four on the R&B singles chart, and Alison Crawford on ''

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''. A version by

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reached the top 30 in USA and Canada in 1978. In

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

's cover, the lyrics imply that she and her partner are about to share a

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with another woman. Jackson begins the song by saying, "This is just between me and you...and you." Additionally, each chorus addresses a different person, as she sings, "'Cause I love you, boy" in one and "'Cause I love you, girl" in another. "She even makes a bid for gay icon status…" wrote Neil McCormick in ''

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s review of ''

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'', "climaxing (if that's the right word) with a bizarre lesbian reinterpretation of Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's the Night'."

, 18 October 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright) 1976 songs 1976 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Music videos directed by Bruce Gowers Rod Stewart songs Song recordings produced by Tom Dowd Songs written by Rod Stewart Riva Records singles Warner Records singles