Black Night

"Black Night" is a song by British hard rock band Deep Purple, first released as a single in June 1970 and later included on the 25th Anniversary version of their 1970 album, In Rock. It became a hit following its release, peaking at No. 2 on UK charts, and remains Deep Purple's highest charting UK single. It topped the charts in Switzerland, and is one of only two singles from the band to chart in Ireland, peaking at No. 4, thus making it the group's only Irish Top 10 hit. It was also the second non-album single penned by the band and also reached number 6 in South Africa.[3]

For the other song, see Black Night (Charles Brown song).

"Black Night"
Single by Deep Purple
B-side
Released5 June 1970 (1970-06-05)
Recorded
Genre
Length3:28
LabelHarvest
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Deep Purple
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Hallelujah"
(1969)		 "Black Night"
(1970)		 "Strange Kind of Woman"
(1971)

Writing process and recording

Once In Rock had been completed, EMI asked for a suitable single to be recorded to help promote the album. Though Roger Glover states that Ricky Nelson's 1962 hard rocking arrangement of the George Gershwin song "Summertime" was the basis for the Mk II Deep Purple single "Black Night",[4] it is also similar to Blues Magoos's 1966 psychedelic hit song "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet".[5] In the BBC documentary Heavy Metal Britannia, keyboardist Jon Lord supports Glover's statement about the song's origin, stating "Black Night was nicked from the bass line in Ricky Nelson's Summertime" and then proceeds to play the bassline riff on his grand piano.[6]

Live performances

"Black Night" made its way into the setlist soon after release, generally as the first encore. It was not played in full after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band in 1973, but snippets were often played by Ritchie Blackmore as part of his improvisations. On the reformation of Deep Purple in 1984, it returned as part of the main set list. There are many versions available on Deep Purple live albums.

Personnel

References
  1. Olivier Richard. CAMION BLANC: LA SOURIS DEGLINGUEE Histoire d'un groupe de rock'n'roll. CAMION BLANC. p. 9. ISBN 978-2-35779-476-4.
  2. Eddie Trunk (30 August 2011). Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Abrams. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-61312-142-9.
  3. "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1965 - 1989 Songs (A-B)". www.rock.co.za.
  4. "The Making of Black Night". Rumba Magazine. 1993. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  5. Smith, Sid (18 April 2007). "Deep Purple In Rock Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  6. BBC-Heavy Metal Brittania: at the 42:30 timeframe of the programme

Book references
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