Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)

"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"
Single by Rod Stewart
from the album A Night on the Town
B-side "The Ball Trap" (UK)
"Fool for You" (US)
Released May 1976 (International)
September 1976 (US)
Format 7" single
Recorded December 1975
Genre Soft rock[1]
Length 3:56 (album version)
3:34 (edit)
Label Riva (UK); Warner Bros. (US)
Songwriter(s) Rod Stewart
Producer(s) Tom Dowd
Rod Stewart singles chronology
"This Old Heart of Mine"
(1976)		 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"
(1976)		 "The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)"
(1976)

"This Old Heart of Mine"
(1976)		 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"
(1976)		 "The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)"
(1976)

"Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" is a song by Rod Stewart, recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama for his 1976 album A Night on the Town. The song became his second US chart topper on the Billboard Hot 100. It made its debut at number 81 on October 2, 1976 and rose quickly, climbing from number eight to the top of the chart on November 13, 1976, and remained on top for eight consecutive weeks until January 8, 1977. It was the longest stay of any song during 1976, as well as the longest stay at number one for Rod Stewart in his entire recording career. The song also peaked at No. 5 in the UK, No. 3 in Australia and charted well in other parts of the world. It was the number 1 song on Billboard's 1977 year-end chart. It became the best-selling single of 1977 in the United States. As of 2015, it is the seventeenth most popular song in the history of the chart.

The song is about loss of virginity and contains many obvious references to sexual acts.

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 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?'"[2]

The song features a French spoken part from Britt Ekland who was Stewart's girlfriend at the time.[3] 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--and fit the song perfectly. 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.

Chart performance

Cover versions

In 1993, Stewart recorded a live version of the song during his session for MTV Unplugged. This version was included on the album Unplugged...and Seated.

The song has been remade by such artists as: Linda Clifford, Nicky Moore, and sung by Anthony Kavanagh, Terry Steele, who reached number forty-four on the R&B singles chart,[9] and Alison Crawford on Grease is the Word.

In Janet Jackson's cover, the lyrics imply that she and her partner are about to share a threesome with another woman. Indeed, Janet 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'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'."[10]

The song was often included in Tina Turner's 1980s live set and features with another Rod Stewart song on her 'Nice n Rough' video.

References

  1. ↑ "The 10 Ickiest Soft-Rock Hits of the '70s - Oldies Music". Oldies.about.com. 2014-04-03. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
  2. ↑ Peak, Dan (2004). An American Band: the America Story. Xulon Press. ISBN 1-594679-29-0.
  3. ↑ Robert Windeler (1977-02-21). "Romantic Rod". People. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  4. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 230.
  6. ↑ Australian-charts.com
  7. ↑ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  8. ↑ "Top Selling Singles of 1976 | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1963-12-08. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  9. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 550.
  10. ↑ The Daily Telegraph, 18 October 1997
  1. ↑ "The Billboard Hot 100 - 1963". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 20, 2006. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ Kowal, Barry. "Billboard (USA) Magazine's (Magazine Chart) Top 100 Singles of 1963", Hits of All Decades. September 20, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  3. ↑ [Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. New York: Billboard Books. p. 138. ISBN 0823076776. Retrieved 20 October 2018.]
  4. ↑ "Top Records of 1963", Billboard, Section II, December 28, 1963. p. 30. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  5. ↑ Kowal, Barry. Billboard Magazine's (USA) Top 100 Single Recordings of 1963, Hits of All Decades. August 27, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
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