Bring On The Night (song)

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"Bring On The Night"
"Bring On The Night (song)" is a song on The Police album Reggatta de Blanc.
Recorded by The Police
Released: 1979-10-02
Recorded: 1979
Length: 4:15
Album(s): Reggatta de Blanc
Label(s): A&M
Writer(s): Sting
Producer(s): Stewart Copeland, Sting, Andy Summers, Nigel Gray
Studio(s): Surrey Sound Studios
Released as single? NO

"Bring On The Night" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police in 1979.

About the song

The song is based on a song called Carrion Prince that Sting had recorded twice (!) with Last Exit, but sharing only some of the lyrics and music.

The Police were short on tracks for Reggatta de Blanc (they even included No Time This Time, which was already released as a b-side in late 1978), so Sting revisited his older repertoire.

Sting is also playing the guitar solo on this The Police track.

There's an earlier mix from Surrey Sound Studios which is only about 3:30 minutes long. It features Sting doing a vocal exercise at the very start and you hear his fingers getting ready on the bass. The guitars are mixed a bit differently in this version. The second chorus is twice the length of the first one. There is no guitar solo yet and no third chorus. After the double-length second chorus it goes straight to the same long outro as the one on the LP version.

Sting's solo version of this song was later featured on both the Bring On The Night album and the Bring On The Night movie.

Andy Summers also recorded the track a few times - first with Gustavo Cerati and Vinnie Colaiuta as Traeme La Noche (on 1998-02-22) - and then again in June 2004 for his album with Ben Verdery ( First You Build A Cloud) .

Personnel

Release History

Albums

Bring On The Night appears on the following album releases<ref>ThePolice.com. UltraStar Entertainment LLC. 21 April 2008.

Cover art Album title Release date Release country
Police-album-reggattadeblanc.jpg Reggatta de Blanc 1979-10-02 United Kingdom
Police-album-messageinaboxthecompleterecordings.jpg Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings 1993-09-30 United Kingdom
Police-album-live!.jpg The Police Live! 1995-06-13 United Kingdom
Police-album-thepolice.jpg The Police 2007-06-11 United States

Video

"Bring On The Night" appears on the following video and dvd releases:

Cover art Video title Release date Release country
Police-aroundtheworld.jpg Around the World 1983-02-01 United Kingdom
Police-outlandostosynchronicities.jpg Outlandos to Synchronicities: A History of The Police Live! 1995-05-01 United Kingdom
Live Ghost In The Machine DVD.jpg Live Ghost In The Machine 2001-10-01 Japan

Lyrics

Lyrics are property and copyright of their owners, and provided here for educational purposes only. 

The afternoon has gently passed me by 
The evening spreads itself against the sky 
Waiting for tomorrow, just another day 
God bid yesterday good-bye 

Bring on the night 
I couldn't spend another hour of daylight 
Bring on the night 
I couldn't stand another hour of daylight 

The future is but a question mark 
Hangs above my head, there in the dark 
Can't see for the brightness is staring me blind 
God bid yesterday good-bye 

Bring on the night 
I couldn't spend another hour of daylight 
Bring on the night 
I couldn't stand another hour of daylight 

I couldn't spend another hour of daylight 
I couldn't stand another hour of daylight

Quotations and trivia

"This was another guitar riff I was deeply proud of but unable to find a home for. The dog was hopelessly resigned about his walk this time as well, so the song ended up as another one about longing. The second line was shamelessly lifted from T.S. Eliot's 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'. What was it Eliot said? "Bad Poets borrow, good poets steal"?"

"'Bring On The Night' was originally called 'Carrion Prince'. I got the title from a Ted Hughes poem called 'King Of Carrion'. It was about Pontius Pilate and so was the song originally. Now it's about Gary Gilmore! I didn't realise it until I read 'The Executioner's Song' by Norman Mailer, the story of Gary Gilmore. 'Bring on the night / I couldn't stand another hour of daylight.' Gilmore's death wish. This very abstract thing I wrote fits this incredible true story. I sing it with him in mind and it's got to be the theme song if they ever make a movie of his life."

"I had read 'The Executioner's Song' by Norman Mailer, and I was struck by the darkness of that character, Gary Gilmore. The Adverts had done that song 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes' - I still perform it on stage and use it as a springboard for a piano solo. I was off and on as a personality at that time. The seven years of the Police really were the best years of my life and the worst. I was at the top of the tree, but at the same time my marriage (to the actress Frances Tomelty) was breaking up. Then I had to go through the bullshit business of fame, wondering whether it was real. The songs reflected this: there'd be the happy go lucky pop stuff and then occasionally something darker."

"'Bring On The Night', recorded by the Police in '78, was written almost three years earlier, or at least adapted from a song that was written at that time. I see no reason why songs shouldn't be rifled and developed to produce something new. If I can borrow from T.S. Eliot, I can certainly borrow from myself."

"When I use my fingers I play more with the flesh of the fingers than the nails. It's much more a rhythmic thing than classical guitar style. There is one number, 'Bring On The Night', which is all classical arpeggios up and down the fingerboard, through a flanger. When you're playing it at 2,000 watts through the PA it sounds great."

"I think that's a good record and that particular song is very good. It is flattering that other people take your music and reinterpret it. I don't complain about that. Even though they make different decisions from yours. That makes it good."

Alternative and cover versions

Cover versions

Cover versions of Bring On The Night appear on the following album releases:

Cover art Artist Album title Release date Release country
Outlandosdamericas.jpg Gustavo Cerati, Andy Summers Outlandos d'Americas 1998 Europe
Vinyl.png Bim Sherman Reggatta Mondatta Volume II 1998-06-30 ??
AndySummers-album-firstyoubuildacloud.jpg Andy Summers, Ben Verdery First You Build A Cloud 2007 ??

See also

External links

This section needs more information.

References

<references />

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