"Into the Night" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Benny Mardones | ||||
from the album Never Run, Never Hide | ||||
B-side | "She's So French" | |||
Released | June 1980 | |||
Genre | Soft rock [1] | |||
Length | 4:32 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Benny Mardones, Robert Tepper | |||
Producer(s) | Barry Mraz | |||
Benny Mardones singles chronology | ||||
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Audio | ||||
"Into the Night" on YouTube |
"Into the Night" is a song by American pop rock singer Benny Mardones from his album Never Run, Never Hide . Inspired by an impoverished family Mardones met during the writing of the album, the lead single became a two-time top 20 hit and a signature tune in Mardones' catalogue.
"Into the Night" is about a man in his thirties who is in love with a 16 year old but cannot be with her because of her age. In an interview with YouTuber Professor of Rock [2] before his passing, Mardones recounted the song's origins as dating back to the writing process for the Never Run, Never Hide album. He and songwriter Robert Tepper went to Miami and lived in an apartment while working on songs.
Mardones' neighbors included a family of five: a mother, a father who worked in set design, and three teenagers (two girls and a boy). One day, the father walked out, leaving the family destitute. Mardones, wanting to help in any way he could, started paying the teens for odd jobs such as walking his dog or picking up groceries. The dog-walker was 16-year-old Heidi. One morning, after Mardones had spent most of the night working on the main riff from "Into the Night," Heidi, dressed for school in a rather mature fashion, came up to walk the dog. According to Mardones, when Tepper made a stray remark after she left, Mardones shut him down, saying "Pal, she's just 16 years old, leave her alone."
Mardones tells of taking that line and running with it, slowly spinning the tale of this family across lyrics such as "It's like having a dream / Where nobody has a heart" highlighting the struggles of the father in set design, and the main chorus being about bringing the family out of poverty. Mardones went on to cite the song's success and subsequent radio interviews done with Heidi to clear up the controversy as what helped lift the family out of their poverty. Through the exposure, Heidi would meet and ultimately marry the son of a Puerto Rico-based real estate mogul. Heidi's husband brought the family to Puerto Rico to live with the couple, and gave the brother a job in his company.
In the Professor of Rock interview, Mardones also sheds light on his powerful vocal performance. The singer cut the lead vocal in three takes, impressing album producer and longtime Styx engineer Barry Mraz. The notorious howling instrumental bridge was originally a guide vocal for a saxophonist, but upon completion, Mraz told the singer "We won't be using a saxophone on this record." [3]
The song is unusual for being one of only ten recordings to ever ascend to the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice, in 1980 and 1989. [4] Chubby Checker was first to do so with his cover of "The Twist", a single that went to No. 1 in September 1960 and again in January 1962.
"Into the Night" was re-recorded multiple times by Mardones:
Mardones originally released "Into the Night" in June 1980. The song peaked at No. 11 on the Hot 100 for two weeks that September, logging 20 weeks on the chart before falling off in late October. Mardones was unable to duplicate "Into the Night"'s success and is considered a one-hit wonder.
In 1989, a "Where Are They Now?" Arizona radio segment spurred L.A. DJ Scott Shannon to add the song to his playlist, ultimately rocketing the song back onto the national charts, on May 6. This time, it peaked at No. 20 the first week in July, adding 17 weeks to its previous run of 20, for a total of 37 (nonconsecutive) weeks.
"Into the Night" was a hit on Adult Contemporary radio this time as well, where it spent 19 weeks and peaked at No. 20. [8]
The original recording was in C minor. Shortly before his 2017 retirement, Mardones performed it in B minor to accommodate his aging voice.
The controversial opening lyric has led the song to be cited as one of many problematic songs adult men have written and performed about wanting to have sex with teenage girls. [9] Along with songs such as blues standard "Good Morning, Little School Girl", "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, "Christine Sixteen" by Kiss, "Seventeen" by Winger and "Jailbait" by Ted Nugent, "Into the Night" has been interpreted as a song dealing in the sexualization of teenage girls by adult men. In these songs, where "young girls are deemed appropriate sex objects", [10] men describe fantasies of statutory rape. The lyrical controversy dates back to the song's release, in which radio stations were originally hesitant to play the song due to the opening line. It wasn't until Mardones' label Polydor sent out a letter detailing his account of the song's origins that stations began playing the song. [11]
Mardones made a music video for the song, but, as it predated MTV by a year, it was not widely broadcast. It opens with Mardones walking down a street and approaching a house. The song plays over the video, and the lyrics serve as Mardones's monologue. He is met at the door by a bearded man who sings the opening line: "She's just 16 years old / Leave her alone." Mardones walks to the back of the house, peering through a window at a young girl sitting sullenly in her room. The video then cuts to Mardones at a pay phone, speaking to the girl on the other end of the line and professing his love. The video cuts again to Mardones returning to the girl's house, carrying a rolled-up carpet. He crawls through her bedroom window and unrolls the magic carpet. As Mardones takes the girl's hand, they take flight into the night sky. The video closes with Mardones serenading the girl as they embrace; the scene fades to black as they kiss.
For many years the video was difficult to find in its entirety, although clips were featured in infomercials for Time-Life Soft Rock compilations. [12] On July 2, 2016, a full version of the video was uploaded to YouTube. [13]
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canadian Singles Chart [14] | 12 |
New Zealand Singles Chart [15] | 29 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [16] | 11 |
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
Australian Singles Chart [17] | 19 |
Year-end chart (1980) | Rank |
---|---|
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) [18] | 69 |
Chart (1989) | Peak position |
---|---|
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [16] | 20 |
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary [8] [19] | 20 |
U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks | 23 |
1980 Polydor recording
1989 Curb recording
2019 Silver Blue recording
2019 Silver Blue remixes
Nick Kamen covered the song for his 1987 debut album Nick Kamen.
In 1991, reggae singer Junior Tucker had a No. 46 Australian hit with the song, re-titled "16 (Into the Night)". [20]
In 1992, Taiwan's Harlem Yu released a cover version of the song on his album Harlem Music Station.
In 1995, Australian singer Peter Wilson released a cover of the song as a single.
In 1996, the group Fiji included a version of the song on their album Born and Raised.
In 2010, Usher released his own version, "Making Love (Into the Night)" on his album, Raymond v. Raymond .
In 2020, Julio Iglesias Jr. and Benny Mardones, before his passing, recorded the song as a duet for Julio's album, Under The Covers, released in 2022. The recording is dedicated in memory of Mardones.
The song was sampled by indie hip hop group Conrad Hilton on the song "Into the Night/Heat of the Night"[ citation needed ] and Decoy's version of "Into the Night",[ citation needed ] both of which feature Benny Mardones in the songs.
Rapper Triple J used the melody and interpolated "Into the Night" for his song "16 Years Old". [21]
American band Pure Bathing Culture interpolates part of the melody and refrain of "Into the Night" on their song "Scotty" from the 2013 album Moon Tides.
This song was sampled by Usher for his 2010 song "Make Love Into the Night" on the album Raymond v. Raymond .
Göran BrorBennyAndersson is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.
Ray Erskine Parker Jr. is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song for the 1984 film Ghostbusters and also sounds from the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-5 hit in 1982 with "The Other Woman". He also performed with his band, Raydio, and with Barry White in the Love Unlimited Orchestra.
Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is a compilation album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released on October 29, 1979, to coincide with their tour of North America and Europe, which took place between September and November 1979. It was ABBA's second chart-topping album of the year and featured "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ", a brand new single, recorded in August 1979.
"Coming Up" is a song written and performed by the English rock musician Paul McCartney, released as the opening track on his second solo studio album McCartney II (1980). Like other songs on the album, the song has a synthesised sound, featuring sped-up vocals created by using a vari-speed tape machine. McCartney played all instruments.
Ruben Armand "Benny" Mardones was an American pop/rock singer and songwriter who was best known for his hit single "Into the Night", which hit the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice, in 1980 (#11) and again in 1989 (#20).
"I Melt with You" is a song by the British new wave band Modern English. The song, produced by Hugh Jones, was the second single from their 1982 album After the Snow. It became the band's most successful single, largely in the United States, where it was featured in the film Valley Girl and on MTV. It reached number seven on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart in 1983 and a re-release reached number 76 on its Hot 100 chart in 1990.
This Time may refer to:
Robert Tepper is an American songwriter, recording artist and singer, best known for his hit song "No Easy Way Out" from the Rocky IV motion picture soundtrack. He is also known for co-writing the hit song "Into the Night" with Benny Mardones.
"Hungry Heart" is a rock song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his fifth album, The River. It was released as the album's lead single in 1980 and became Springsteen's first big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at number five.
"On and On and On" is a pop song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released as a single in a limited number of countries in 1980 as the second single from their seventh studio album, Super Trouper.
Survivor is the first album by the American rock band Survivor, recorded and released in 1979. It is the band's only album with its original drummer, Gary Smith, and bass guitarist, Dennis Keith Johnson. The recording sessions, overseen by the A&R executive John Kalodner, were not without difficulties. First, Ron Nevison replaced Barry Mraz as producer, and then the project had to be taken to Bruce Fairbairn in Vancouver to achieve a mix that was to Kalodner's satisfaction. The album took eight months to finally be released.
The Natural History were a band composed of Tepper brothers singer–guitarist Max and bassist Julian, along with drummer Derek Vockins. After playing locally in the New York area and self-recording their own three-song EP, The Natural History caught the ear of local NYC label Startime International, whose roster includes Brendan Benson, The Walkmen, The French Kicks, among others. Recording with Greg Talenfeld at Stonehouse studio in Nyack, New York, the band released the finished product as a self-titled EP in July 2002. The EP was promoted with a year-full of touring with Enon and Spoon, whereupon the band also found time to record their debut full-length effort Beat Beat Heartbeat, which was released in May 2003.
"Does He Love You" is a song written by Sandy Knox and Billy Stritch, and recorded as a duet by American country music artists Reba McEntire and Linda Davis. It was released in August 1993 as the first single from Reba's compilation album Greatest Hits Volume 2. It is one of country music's several songs about a love triangle.
Never Run, Never Hide is the second studio by pop-rock singer-songwriter Benny Mardones album, released in May 1980 by Polydor Records. It included his biggest hit, "Into the Night", which peaked that year at No. 11 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and re-charted nine years later, in 1989.
"I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" is the second single from Stevie Wonder's 1980 album, Hotter Than July. It reached number four on the Billboard R&B singles chart and number 11 on the Hot 100. It also hit number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is famous for Wonder's imitation of a seasoned country-and-western crooner and his inspiring drumming. Charlie and Ronnie Wilson of The Gap Band provide backing vocals on the song. It was covered by Eric Clapton in 2001.
"I Won't Give Up" is a song by American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. It was released as the first official single from his fourth studio album, Love Is a Four Letter Word, on December 26, 2011, via iTunes. It was written by Mraz and Michael Natter, and produced by Joe Chiccarelli.
Too Much to Lose is the third studio album from American singer Benny Mardones, released in 1981. It was produced by "The Wizard" Barry Mraz. The album was Mardones' last for eight years.
Benny Mardones is the fourth studio album from American singer Benny Mardones, which was released by Curb in 1989. Produced by Michael Lloyd, it was Mardones' first album since 1981's Too Much to Lose, following his battle with a drug addiction and other personal issues. The album was recorded and released after the successful re-issue of Mardones' 1980 hit song "Into the Night".
A Journey Through Time is the seventh studio album from American singer Benny Mardones. It was released in 2002 by Crazy Boy Records.
"Hometown Girls" is a song by American singer-songwriter Benny Mardones, which was released in 1980 as the second and final single from his second studio album Never Run, Never Hide. The song was written by Mardones and David Leigh Byron, and produced by Barry Mraz. As the follow-up to Mardones' US top 20 hit "Into the Night", "Hometown Girls" failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100 but reached No. 3 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.