"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 singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

, and recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama 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

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

’ "

Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...

" in November 1968), and the longest stay at number one for Rod Stewart in his entire recording career, and the final number one of that 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 graphics, 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 repres ...

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 19th-most popular song in the history of the chart.

Background and lyrics

According to Dan Peek of America, 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 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 who was Stewart's girlfriend at the time. While primarily recorded at Muscle Shoals, the final vocal was recorded at Caribou Ranch 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. The saxophone solo is by Jerry Jumonville. The song was originally banned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and protested by Reverend Jesse Jackson, due to its suggestive lyric: "C'mon angel, my heart's on fire/Don't deny your man's desire/You'd be a fool to stop this tide/Spread your wings and let me come inside." 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. '' Record World'' said that "Here Stewart's as relaxed and moving as he can be."

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 ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV. It showcases recorded live performances of popular music artists playing acoustic instrument, acoustic or "unplugged" variations of songs. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999. F ...

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

Linda Clifford Linda Clifford (born June 14, 1948) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B, disco and house music singer who scored hits from the 1970s to the 1980s, most notably "If My Friends Could See Me Now", "Bridge over Troubled Water (song), Bridge over ...

, Nicky Moore, and sung by Anthony Kavanagh, Terry Steele, who reached number forty-four on the R&B singles chart, and Alison Crawford on '' Grease is the Word''. A version by Roy Head reached the top 30 in the USA (#28) and Canada (#17) Country charts in 1978. Janet Jackson covered the song on her 1997 album '' The Velvet Rope'', although she changed the lyrics. In Jackson's cover, the lyrics imply that she and her partner are about to share a threesome 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 ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

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

'', 18 October 1997

References

{{Authority control 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 Bisexuality-related songs Franglais songs Songs banned by the BBC