“Because the Night” is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith that was first released in 1978 as a single off the Patti Smith Group album Easter. It rose to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as #5 in the United Kingdom, and helped propel sales of Easter to mainstream success — even as Smith was deciding to retire from a life of constant touring. In 1987, the song was ranked #116 on NME magazine’s list of “The Top 150 Singles of All Time”. It remains one of the best known songs of Smith’s catalog. (More from Wikipedia)
While recording their third and most successful album, Easter, Patti Smith Group encountered Bruce Springsteen who was recording his fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town in the adjoining studio. The Boss had recorded “Because the Night” but was unsatisfied with it and did not include it on the album. Jimmy Iovine was the producer and engineer on both albums; he passed along a copy of the tape of the song to Patti Smith, who recast the song and included it on her album. The first performance of “Because the Night” was at a Patti Smith Group concert on December 30, 1977 at New York’s CBGB club, with Bruce Springsteen joining in on guitar and vocals. Bruce and Patti share songwriting credits on “Because the Night”, which is probably Patti Smith’s best known song. Easter also includes several songs about Patti Smith’s feelings on organized religion; and her debut album, Horses includes her version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” that had the spoken-word introduction, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine”.
(February 2014)
