In the Midnight Hour

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"In the Midnight Hour"
Single by Wilson Pickett
from the album In the Midnight Hour
B-side"I'm Not Tired"
ReleasedJune 1965 (1965-06)
RecordedMay 12, 1965
StudioStax, Memphis, Tennessee
Genre
Length2:30
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Wilson Pickett singles chronology
"Come Home Baby"
(1964)
"In the Midnight Hour"
(1965)
"Don't Fight It"
(1965)

"In the Midnight Hour" is a song originally performed by

Lorraine Motel in Memphis, later (April 1968) the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Pickett's first hit on Atlantic Records,[1] it reached number one on the R&B charts and peaked at number 21 on the pop charts.[2]

Composition and recording

Wilson Pickett recorded "In the Midnight Hour" at Stax Studios, Memphis, May 12, 1965. The song's co-writer Steve Cropper recalls: "[Atlantic Records president] Jerry Wexler said he was going to bring down this great singer Wilson Pickett" to record at Stax Studio where Cropper was a session guitarist" and I didn’t know what groups he'd been in or whatever. But I used to work in [a] record shop, and I found some gospel songs that Wilson Pickett had sung on. On a couple [at] the end, he goes: 'I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour! Oh, in the midnight hour. I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour.'" and Cropper got the idea of using the phrase "in the midnight hour" as the basis for an R&B song.[3] More likely, Cropper was remembering The Falcons' 1962 song "I Found a Love," on which Pickett sings lead and says "And sometimes I call in the midnight hour!" The only gospel record Pickett had appeared on before this was the Violinaires' "Sign of the Judgement," which includes no such phrase.[4]

Besides Cropper, the band on "In the Midnight Hour" featured Stax session regulars

the Jerk, which Wexler demonstrated in the studio. According to Cropper, "this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."[5]

Pickett re-recorded the song for his 1987 album American Soul Man.

Reception and recognition

"In the Midnight Hour" reached number one on the

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll,[citation needed] Pickett's only such entry. In 2017, the song was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."[7] In 1999, "In the Midnight Hour" recorded in 1965 on Atlantic Records by Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[8]

Personnel

The following musicians played on the session for "In the Midnight Hour".[9]

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[10] Silver 200,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

  • The song has been an intermittent inclusion in Bruce Springsteen's live setlists, beginning in 1969.[11] A notable performance took place in the minutes preceding midnight during the December 31, 1980, performance at the Nassau Coliseum by Springsteen and his E Street Band on The River Tour. The show was later released as part of the official Springsteen Live Archives and is regarded by many Springsteen fans as one of the marquee concerts of his career.[12] Another broadcast performance took place on the evening of Springsteen's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on New York City on March 15, 1999, as a duet with Pickett.[13] Springsteen's most recent performance of the song in a public forum took place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on September 22, 2012.[14]
  • Australian band Ray Brown & the Whispers recorded a local cover of the Wilson Pickett hit, and were afforded a number four Australian hit in 1965.
  • The Grateful Dead regularly performed the song in concert from 1967 onwards, most notably with extended improv vocals by frontman Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
  • The American garage rock/psychedelic rock band The Chocolate Watchband released a version on their first critically acclaimed album, 1967's No Way Out. It did not chart but was released as a reissued single by Sundazed Records in 2012.
  • The Mirettes had a top 20 R&B hit with their version of "In the Midnight Hour" which reached number 18 on the Billboard R&B chart in March 1968, and number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also charted at number 18 on the Cash Box R&B chart and number 52 the Cash Box Top 100.[15][16]
  • The Young Rascals recorded the song in 1966. It was featured on the Rascals' greatest-hits album, Time Peace (1968).
  • Cross Country, which consisted of three members of the Tokens quartet, recorded a ballad version of "In the Midnight Hour" for the group's sole album release which was entitled Cross Country and otherwise consisted of original material: group member Jay Siegel states that Cross Country re-invented "In the Midnight Hour" taking as prototype the recordings of Crosby Stills and Nash.[17] Issued as a single in July 1973, "In the Midnight Hour" debuted at number 100 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine dated August 18, 1973, rising to a peak of number 30 in October 1973: the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart ranked "In the Midnight Hour" by Cross Country as high as number 18 besting the number 22 peak afforded to the Wilson Pickett original by the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart. "In the Midnight Hour" by Cross Country also ranked on the Billboard Easy Listening chart with a number six peak, and was a moderate hit in Canada with an RPM100 peak of number 34, also charting in Australia (number 63).
  • British mod/punk band The Jam covered the song as the closing track of their second album, This Is the Modern World, in 1977.
  • Australian artist Samantha Sang remade "In the Midnight Hour" for her 1979 album From Dance to Love from which it was issued as the second single: reaching number 88, the track would mark her third and final Hot 100 appearance.
  • The English rock band
    bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100
    reaching #106: the track was also issued as a single in Portugal.
  • Genesis regularly performed an excerpt of the song in concert, as part of the Turn It On Again medley, in the 80s: two different live recordings appear respectively in Turn It On Again - Best Of '81 - '83 and Knebworth – The Album.
  • "In the Midnight Hour" became a
    Nashville. (Bailey followed up "In the Midnight Hour" with another Steve Cropper co-write "Knock on Wood
    ".)
  • The Commitments (1991 film)
  • American musician Roger had an R&B hit with his remake entitled "Midnight Hour (Part 1)" which reached number 34 R&B in 1984: the single was taken from the album The Saga Continues...
  • Tina Turner played the song live in the late 1980s, and released a recording on her 1988 live album Tina Live in Europe.
  • The Chambers Brothers included the song on their 1967 debut album on Columbia RecordsThe Time Has Come (The Chambers Brothers album).

References

  1. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 51 - The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 7] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 461.
  3. ^ "Steve Cropper's research into Wilson Pickett sparked initial hit". Something Else. February 3, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  4. ^ Simpson, Kim (February 23, 2017). "'I Found a Love' (1962) - The Falcons". Song ID Blog. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  5. .
  6. .
  7. ^ "National Recording Registry Picks Are "Over the Rainbow"". Library of Congress. March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  8. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com.
  9. ^ Peter Grendysa and Robert Pruter, Atlantic Rhythm and Blues 1947-1974 booklet notes (CD edition), Atlantic Records, 1991
  10. ^ "British single certifications – Wilson Pickett – In the Midnight Hour". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  11. ^ "In the Midnight Hour - Brucebase Wiki".
  12. ^ "Bruce Springsteen - December 31, 1980 Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY".
  13. ^ "Wilson Pickett and Bruce Springsteen Perform "In the Midnight Hour" at the 1999 Induction Ceremony". YouTube.
  14. ^ "2012-09-22 MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ - Brucebase Wiki".
  15. ^ "Top 50 In R&B Locations" (PDF). Cash Box: 56. March 23, 1968.
  16. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 3/30/68". Tropicalglen.com. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  17. ^ "Gary James' Interview With Jay Siegel of the Tokens". ClassicBands.com. Retrieved September 14, 2015.