Black Night

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"Black Night"
Black Night.jpg
Single by Deep Purple
B-side
Released5 June 1970 (1970-06-05)
RecordedMay 1970
Studio De Lane Lea Studios
Genre
Length3:28
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Deep Purple
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Hallelujah"
(1969)		"Black Night"
(1970)		"Strange Kind of Woman"
(1971)

"Black Night" is a song by English hard rock band Deep Purple, released as a single in June 1970 and later included on the 25th Anniversary version of their 1970 studio album, Deep Purple in Rock . It became a hit following its release, peaking at No. 1 on UK New Musical Express, Melody Maker and Top Pops 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. [4]

Contents

Writing process and recording

Once Deep Purple 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," [5] it is also similar to Blues Magoos's 1966 psychedelic hit song "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet." [6] 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. [7]

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Black Night"
Chart (1970–71)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) [8] 14
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [9] 4
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [9] 6
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia) [9] 1
Canada (RPM) [10] 67
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)34
Ireland (IRMA)4
Italy ( Musica e dischi ) [11] 16
Netherlands (Singles Top 100) [9] 8
Norway (VG-lista) [9] 2
South Africa (Springbok) [4] 6
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [9] 1
UK Singles (OCC)2
US Billboard Hot 100 [12] 66
West Germany (Official German Charts) [9] 2

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.[ citation needed ]

Personnel

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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. ↑ Dickson, Jamie (2015). "Deep Purple - "Black Night". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. New York: Universe. p. 264.
  3. ↑ Eddie Trunk (2011). Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Abrams. p. 192. ISBN   978-1-61312-142-9.
  4. 1 2 "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1965 - 1989 Songs (A-B)". rock.co.za.
  5. ↑ "The Making of Black Night". Rumba Magazine. 1993. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  6. ↑ Smith, Sid (18 April 2007). "Deep Purple in Rock Review". BBC Music . Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. ↑ BBC-Heavy Metal Brittania: at the 42:30 timeframe of the programme
  8. ↑ Australian chart peaks:
    • Top 100 (Kent Music Report) singles and albums peaks to 26 June 1988: Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. p. 97. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
    • ARIA Chart singles and album peaks (top 50 from 26 June 1988; top 100 from January 1990) to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
    • For "King of Dreams" "Bubbling Down Under". 29 October 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Deep Purple – Black Night". hitparade.ch.
  10. ↑ Canadian singles:
  11. ↑ "Top Annuali Singoli 1971". Hit Parade Italia.
  12. ↑ "Chart History: Deep Purple". Billboard.

Sources

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