Nights in White Satin

"Nights in White Satin" is a song by the Moody Blues, written and composed by Justin Hayward. It was first featured as the segment "The Night" on the album Days of Future Passed. When first released as a single in 1967, it reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and number 103 in the United States in 1968. It was the first significant chart entry by the band since "Go Now" and its recent lineup change, in which Denny Laine and Clint Warwick had resigned and both Hayward and John Lodge had joined.

For the Giorgio Moroder album, see Knights in White Satin.
"Nights in White Satin"
French single sleeve
Single by The Moody Blues
from the album Days of Future Passed
B-side"Cities"
Released10 November 1967 (1967-11-10)
Format7-inch single
Recorded8 October 1967
Genre
Length
LabelDeram
Songwriter(s)Justin Hayward
Producer(s)Tony Clarke
The Moody Blues singles chronology
"Love and Beauty"
(1967)		 "Nights in White Satin"
(1967)		 "Tuesday Afternoon"
(1968)
Audio sample
"Nights in White Satin"
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When reissued in 1972, in the United States the single hit number two – for two weeks – on the Billboard Hot 100 (behind "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash) and hit number one on the Cash Box Top 100. It earned a gold certification for sales of over a million U.S. copies. It also hit number one in Canada. After two weeks at #2, it was replaced by "I'd Love You to Want Me" by Lobo. It reached its highest UK position this year at number 9. The song again charted in the UK in 1979 reaching number 14.

The song charted again in 2010, reaching number 51 in the British Official Singles Charts.[4]

Production

Band member Justin Hayward wrote and composed the song at age 19 in Swindon, and titled the song after a girlfriend gave him a gift of satin bedsheets. The song itself was a tale of a yearning love from afar, which leads many aficionados to term it as a tale of unrequited love endured by Hayward. Hayward said of the song, "It was just another song I was writing and I thought it was very powerful. It was a very personal song and every note, every word in it means something to me and I found that a lot of other people have felt that very same way about it."[5]

The London Festival Orchestra provided the orchestral accompaniment for the introduction, the final rendition of the chorus, and the "final lament" section, all of which were in the original album version. The "orchestral" sounds in the main body of the song were actually produced by Mike Pinder's Mellotron keyboard device,[6] which would come to define the "Moody (Blues)'s signature sound".[7]

The song is written in the key of E minor[8] and features the Neapolitan chord (F).[9]

Single releases

The two single versions of the song were both stripped of the orchestral and "Late Lament" poetry sections of the LP version. The first edited version, with the songwriter's credit shown as "Redwave", was a hasty-sounding 3:06 version of the LP recording with very noticeable chopped parts. However, many versions of the single are listed on the labels at 3:06, but in fact are closer to the later version of 4:26.

Some versions, instead of ending cold as most do, segue briefly into the symphonic second half ("Late Lament") and, in fact, run for 4:33 (but are also listed on the label as 3:06). For the second edited version (with the song's writing credited to Hayward), the early parts of the song were kept intact, ending early at 4:26. Most single versions were backed with a non-LP B-side, "Cities".

Although it only had limited commercial success on its first release, the song has since garnered much critical acclaim, ranking number 36 in BBC Radio 2's "Sold on Song Top 100" list.

"Late Lament"

The spoken-word poem heard near the six-minute mark of the album version of the song is called "Late Lament". Drummer Graeme Edge wrote the verses, which were recited by keyboardist Mike Pinder. On Days of Future Passed, the poem's last five lines bracket the album and also appear at the end of track 1 ("The Day Begins").

While it has been commonly known as part of "Nights in White Satin" with no separate credit on the original LP, "Late Lament" was given its own listing on the two-LP compilation This Is The Moody Blues in 1974 and again in 1987 (without its parent song) on another compilation, Prelude. Both compilations feature the track in a slightly different form than on Days of Future Passed, giving both spoken and instrumental tracks an echo effect. The orchestral ending is kept intact, but mastering engineers edited out the gong (struck by Mike Pinder) that closes the track on the original LP.

From 1992 through the early 2000s, the Moody Blues toured with shows backed by live orchestras. When with orchestral accompaniment, they often took the opportunity to include "Late Lament" in the performance of "Nights in White Satin". On these occasions, Edge recited it himself, since Pinder was no longer in the band at that time.

Personnel
Additional personnel

Charts

Weekly singles charts
Chart (1967–68) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[10] 5
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 6
Canada RPM Top Singles[12] 30
France (SNEP)[13] 95
Germany (Official German Charts)[14] 18
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[15] 1
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] 6
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[17] 9
US Billboard Hot 100[18] 103

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[29] Silver 200,000
United States (RIAA)[30] Gold 1,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Theme park attraction and other uses

The work was reinterpreted as the focus of Nights in White Satin: The Trip, a dark ride at the Hard Rock Park theme park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S.A. The attraction, which included 3D-black light and fiber-optic lighting effects and purpose-made films, was developed by Sally Corporation and Jon Binkowski of Hard Rock Park. Riders entered through a bead curtain and were provided with 3D glasses.

The attraction operated as "The Trip" for the single 2008 season the park operated as Hard Rock Park, but was rethemed as "Monstars of Rock" with the sale and retitling of the park as Freestyle Music Park; "park officials said the experience will be similar but the presentation will be changed."[31] Freestyle Music Park would cease operations after its only season as such in 2009.

Nights in White Satin was the title of a 1987 film directed by Michael Barnard, and starring Kip Gilman and Priscilla Harris.[32] The Moody Blues recording of the song was featured prominently in the soundtrack, particularly during a rooftop dance sequence.

The Dickies version

Los Angeles punk rock band the Dickies recorded a speedy cover of the song for their 1979 LP Dawn of the Dickies (A&M Records). Released as a single, it charted in the top 40 on the UK singles charts.[33]

Sandra version
"Nights in White Satin"
Single by Sandra
from the album Fading Shades
ReleasedMarch 1995
FormatCD single
12" single
Recorded1995
GenreSynthpop
Length3:35
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)Justin Hayward
Producer(s)Michael Cretu
Sandra singles chronology
"Maria Magdalena '93"
(1993)		 "Nights in White Satin"
(1995)		 "Won't Run Away"
(1995)

A pop-rock cover version was performed by the German singer Sandra. The song appeared on Sandra's sixth studio album Fading Shades (1995).

It was produced by Michael Cretu and received mixed reception from music critics. The song was released as the lead single in the spring of 1995 (see 1995 in music), although it failed to match the success of Sandra's previous singles. The song peaked at #1 in Israel (spending two weeks at the top), #17 in Finland, and #34 in New Zealand (Sandra's only charting hit there). In Germany it only peaked at #86, becoming her least successful lead single in that country to date. In the United Kingdom, it failed to enter the chart.

The music video, directed by Angel Hart, showed only close ups of Sandra's face as she was pregnant at the time. She even had to sit during the recording sessions of the album. (Note that the Fading Shades album cover was taken from the music video.)[34]

Charts
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[35] 163
German Singles Chart[36] 86
Israel Singles Chart 1
New Zealand Singles Chart[37] 34
Finland[38] 17

See also

References
  1. Buskin, Richard (July 2009). "The Moody Blues 'Nights In White Satin'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  2. Murthl, R.S. (28 December 1994). "Pearl Jam's Vital Return". New Straits Times. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  3. Bosso, Joe. "Classic tracks: Justin Hayward talks Nights In White Satin". MusicRadar.com. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  4. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Singles Charts. 11 December 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  5. "The Daily Cut: The Moody Blues "Nights in White Satin"". 98.5 WNCX. CBS. Archived from the original on 17 May 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  6. "Justin Hayward talks Nights In White Satin" 22 October 2014, Musicradar.com
  7. "#36: Nights in White Satin". Sold on Song: Top 100. BBC Radio 2. A yearning love song, it was drenched in what would become the Moody’s signature sound - the synthetic strings of the Mellotron.
  8. Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis, p. 39. ISBN 978-0-300-09239-4.
  9. Stephenson (2002), p. 89.
  10. "Austriancharts.at – The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  11. "Ultratop.be – The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  12. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 4 May 1968. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  13. "Lescharts.com – The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  14. "Musicline.de – The Moody Blues Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  15. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  16. "Swisscharts.com – The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  17. "Moody Blues: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  18. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  19. https://tsort.info/music/37ka80.htm
  20. "Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  21. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Nights in White Satin". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  22. "flavour of new zealand - search listener". www.flavourofnz.co.nz.
  23. "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (M)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  24. Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 167.
  25. "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles: Week ending November 4, 1972". Cashbox. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 September 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  27. "Top 100 Hits of 1972/Top 100 Songs of 1972". Musicoutfitters.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  28. "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1972". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  29. "British single certifications – Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 May 2019. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Nights in White Satin in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  30. "American single certifications – The Moody Blues – Nights in White Satin". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 May 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
  31. Cherney, Mike (13 May 2009). "Freestyle Music Park Fills Out Offerings". The Sun News. Archived from the original on 16 August 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  32. "Nights in White Satin". IMDB. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  33. https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/17335/dickies/
  34. "sandra-cretu.narod.ru". sandra-cretu.narod.ru. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  35. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 19 September 2017". Imgur.com. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  36. "Sandra – Nights in White Satin (single)" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  37. "charts.nz > Sandra in New Zealand Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  38. "Top 3 in Europe" (PDF). Eurotipsheet. Vol. 3 no. 8. Amsterdam. 1 March 1986. p. 16. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
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