In the Midnight Hour

"In the Midnight Hour"
Single by Wilson Pickett
from the album In the Midnight Hour
B-side "I'm Not Tired"
Released June 1965 (1965-06)
Format 7-inch single
Recorded May 12, 1965
Studio Stax, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre
Length 2:30
Label Atlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)

"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on his 1965 album of the same name, also appearing on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. The song was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be assassinated in April 1968. Pickett's first hit on Atlantic Records,[1] it reached number one on the R&B charts and peaked at number 21 on the pop charts.[2]

In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."[3]

Wilson Pickett version

Wilson Pickett recorded "In the Midnight Hour" at Stax Studios, Memphis, May 12, 1965. The song's co-writer Steve Cropper recalls: "[Atlantic Records president] Jerry Wexler said he was going to bring down this great singer Wilson Pickett" to record at Stax Studio where Cropper was a session guitarist "and I didn’t know what groups he'd been in or whatever. But I used to work in [a] record shop, and I found some gospel songs that Wilson Pickett had sung on. On a couple [at] the end, he goes: 'I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour! Oh, in the midnight hour. I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour.'" and Cropper got the idea of using the phrase "in the midnight hour" as the basis for an R&B song.[4] More likely, Cropper was remembering the Falcon's 1962 song "I Found a Love," on which Pickett sings lead and says "And sometimes I call in the midnight hour!" The only gospel record Pickett had appeared on before this was the Violinaires' "Sign of the Judgement," which includes no such phrase.[5]

Besides Cropper the band on "In the Midnight Hour" featured Stax session regulars Al Jackson (drums) and Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass). According to Cropper, Wexler was responsible for the track's innovative delayed backbeat, as Cropper revamped his planned groove for "In the Midnight Hour" based on a dance step which Wexler demonstrated in the studio - "(quote Cropper) this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."[6]

"In the Midnight Hour" reached number one on the R&B chart in Billboard magazine dated August 7, 1965 and crossed over to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 reaching number 21: however according to Stax owner Jim Stewart the domestic sales total of the single in its original release was a moderate 300,000 units.[7] However "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett has become an iconic R&B track, placing at number 134 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, Wilson Pickett's first of two entries on the list (the other being "Mustang Sally" at number 434). It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Pickett's only such entry. The song is currently ranked as the 175th greatest song of all time, as well as the eleventh best song of 1965, by Acclaimed Music.[8] Pickett re-recorded the song for his 1987 album American Soul Man.

The Mirettes version

The Mirettes had a Top 20 R&B hit with their version of "In the Midnight Hour" which reached number 18 on the R&B chart in Billboard magazine in the spring of 1968, almost crossing-over to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 with a chart peak of number 45.

Cross Country version

Cross Country - an outfit which consisted of three members of the Tokens quartet - recorded a ballad version of "In the Midnight Hour" for the group's sole album release which was entitled Cross Country and otherwise consisted of original material: group member Jay Siegel states that Cross Country re-invented "In the Midnight Hour" taking as prototype the recordings of Crosby Stills and Nash.[9] Issued as a single in July 1973, "In the Midnight Hour" debuted at number 100 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine dated August 18, 1973, rising to a peak of number 30 in October 1973: the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart ranked "In the Midnight Hour" by Cross Country as high as #18 besting the number 22 peak afforded to the Wilson Pickett original by the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart. "In the Midnight Hour" by Cross Country also ranked on the Billboard Easy Listening chart with a number six peak, and was a moderate hit in Canada with an RPM100 peak of number 34, also charting in Australia (number 63).

Razzy Bailey version

"In the Midnight Hour" became a C&W hit in 1984 via a remake by Razzy Bailey which reached number 14 C&W. The single was taken from Bailey's The Midnight Hour album recorded in 1983 at producer Bob Montgomery's Soundshop Studio, Nashville. (Bailey followed up "In the Midnight Hour" with another Steve Cropper co-write "Knock on Wood".)

Other versions

Australian band Ray Brown and The Whispers recorded a local cover of the Wilson Pickett hit, and were afforded a number four Australian hit in 1965.

Australian artist Samantha Sang remade "In the Midnight Hour" for her 1979 album From Dance to Love from which it was issued as the second single: reaching number 88, the track would mark her third and final Hot 100 appearance.

The English rock band Roxy Music remade "In the Midnight Hour" for their 1980 "Flesh and Blood" album with the track issued as a single in USA where it bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 reaching #106: the track was also issued as a single in Portugal.

American musician Roger had an R&B hit with his remake entitled "Midnight Hour (Part 1)" which reached number 34 R&B in 1984: the single was taken from the album The Saga Continues...

"In the Midnight Hour" has also been recorded by Ace Cannon (inst) (album Memphis Golden Hits/ 1967), Archie Bell & the Drells, (album Tighten Up/ 1968), Tom Jones (album The Tom Jones Fever Zone/1968), the Chambers Brothers (album The Time Has Come/ 1967), Chris Farlowe (EP Farlowe in the Midnight Hour/ 1965), the Jam (album This is the Modern World/ 1977), Bob Kuban and the In-Men (album Look Out For the Cheater/ 1966), Roxy Music (album Flesh and Blood/1980), Delbert McClinton (album Plain' From The Heart/ 1981), the Righteous Brothers (album Soul & Inspiration/ 1966), Johnny Rivers (album ...And I Know You Wanna Dance/ 1966), Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels (album Breakout...!!!/ 1966), Guy Sebastian (album The Memphis Album/ 2007), James Taylor (album Covers/ 2008), Them (album Them/ 1970), Tina Turner (album Tina Live in Europe/ 1988), Mary Wells (album The Two Sides of Mary Wells/ 1966), and the Young Rascals (album The Young Rascals/ 1966).

The Grateful Dead also did a rendition of In The Midnight Hour at the Fillmore East on April 29th of 1971 among other performances.

References

  1. ↑ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 51 - The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 7] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  2. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 461.
  3. ↑ "National Recording Registry Picks Are "Over the Rainbow"". Library of Congress. March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ Else, Something. "Steve Cropper's research into Wilson Pickett sparked initial hit". Somethingelsereviews.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  5. ↑ Simpson, Kim. ""I Found a Love" (1962) - The Falcons". Songids.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
  6. ↑ Pickett-New, Louella (2015). Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You. NYC: Fulton Books. ISBN 9781499052855.
  7. ↑ Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville, U.S.A.: the story of Stax Records. NYC: Schirmer Trade Books. p. 62. ISBN 978-0825672842.
  8. ↑ "Acclaimed Music Top 3000 songs". Acclaimed Music. 27 May 2009.
  9. ↑ "Gary James' Interview With Jay Siegel of the Tokens". ClassicBands.com. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
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