"Nights in White Satin" is a 1967 single by The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward
and first featured on the album Days of Future Passed.
It is in the key of E minor, and features the Neapolitan chord.
Single releases When first released in 1967, the song reached
#19 on the UK Singles Chart it was the first significant chart entry by the band since
Go Now and the recent lineup change, it is an edited version of the album track that
also has the orchesta removed.
The song was re-released in 1972 once the band has had major album and single successes.
and it charted at #2 in November on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Cash Box in the United States,
earning a Gold certification for sales of a million copies.
It also reached #1 in Canada.
The song also holds the dubious distinction of the highest complete Hot 100 disappearance
from the pre-digital download era, vanishing entirely from the chart after falling to #17.
It was also released in Spanish as "Noches de Seda" at the same time.
In the wake of its US success, the song re-charted in the UK in late 1972 and climbed to #9.
The song was re-released yet again in 1979, and charted for a third time in the UK at
#14.
There are two single versions of the song, both stripped of the orchestral and "Late
Lament" poetry sections of the LP version.
The first edited version, with the songwriter's credit shown as "Redwave", was a hasty sounding
3:06 version of the LP recording with very noticeable chopped parts.
However, there are many versions of the single that are listed on the labels at 3:06, but
in fact are closer to the later version of 4:26.
Some versions, instead of ending cold as most do, segue briefly into the symphonic second
half, and, in fact, run for 4:33.
For the second edited version, the early parts of the song were kept intact, ending early
at 4:26.
Just about all single versions were backed with a non-LP B-side, "Cities".
Band member Justin Hayward wrote the song at age 19 in Swindon, and titled the song
after a girlfriend gave him a gift of satin bedsheets.
The song itself was a tale of a yearning love from afar, which leads many aficionados to
term it as a tale of unrequited love endured by Hayward.
The London Festival Orchestra provided the orchestral accompaniment for the introduction,
the final rendition of the chorus, and the "final lament" section, all of this in the
original album version.
The "orchestral" sounds in the main body of the song were actually produced by Mike Pinder's
Mellotron keyboard device, which would come to define the "Moody Blues sound".
Although it only had limited commercial success on its first release, the song has since garnered
much critical acclaim, ranking #36 in BBC Radio 2's "Sold on Song Top 100" list.
Late Lament The spoken-word poem heard near the six-minute
mark of the album version of the song is called "Late Lament".
Drummer Graeme Edge wrote the verses, which were read by keyboardist Mike Pinder.
On Days of Future Passed, the poem's last five lines bracket the album and also appear
at the end of track 1.
While it has been commonly known as part of "Nights in White Satin" with no separate credit
on the original LP, "Late Lament" was given its own listing on the two-LP compilation
This is the Moody Blues in 1974 and again in 1987 on another compilation, Prelude.
Both compilations feature the track in a slightly different form than on Days of Future Passed,
giving both spoken and instrumental tracks an echo effect.
The orchestral ending is kept intact, but recording engineers have completely edited
out the gong that closes the track on the original LP.
From 1992 through the early 2000s, the Moody Blues toured with shows backed by live orchestras.
When with orchestral accompaniment, they often took the opportunity to include "Late Lament"
in the performance of "Nights in White Satin".
On these occasions, Edge recited it himself since Pinder was not in the band at that point.
False claim of authorship – Les Jelly Roll In the late 1990s, the UK magazine Record
Collector printed a claim that "Nights in White Satin" had not been written by Justin
Hayward at all, but that in fact the Moody Blues' management had simply bought the song
outright in 1966 from an Italian group called The Jelly Roll and taken credit for it.
This spurious claim seems to have arisen from the discovery of a 7" single by The Jelly
Roll which carries the words "This is the original version of Nights in White Satin"
on the label.
Actually, "Les Jelly Roll" was a French band who did this cover of the Moody Blues song,
and had the opportunity to release it in Italy, on Ricordi, a few months before the original
was released there.
So, as a joke, they put the famous sentence on the cover.
Personnel Justin Hayward - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
John Lodge - backing vocal, bass guitar Mike Pinder - backing vocal, mellotron, narration,
gong Ray Thomas - backing vocal, flute, percussion
Graeme Edge - backing vocal, drums, percussion Additional personnel
Peter Knight and the London Festival Orchestra - orchestral arrangements
Chart positions Theme park attraction and other uses
The work was reinterpreted as the focus of Nights in White Satin: The Trip, a dark ride
at the Hard Rock Park theme park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA.
The attraction, which included 3D-black light and fiber optic lighting effects and purpose-made
films, was developed by Sally Corporation and Jon Binkowski of Hard Rock Park.
Riders entered through a bead curtain, were provided 3-D glasses, and upon return were
greeted, "how was your Trip?"
Visual Effects, Digital CGI and Special Effects were designed, produced, and installed by
Attraction Design Services; ride vehicles were from ETF.
The attraction operated as "The Trip" for the single 2008 season the park operated as
Hard Rock Park, but was rethemed with the sale and retitling of the park; "park officials
said the experience will be similar but the presentation will be changed."
Other uses of the song This song is featured in Wolfgang Petersen's
1991 film, Shattered.
This song is featured in the 1992 film, Split Second.
This song is featured in Robert De Niro's 1993 film, A Bronx Tale.
This song is featured in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film, Casino.
This song is featured in Rob Zombie's 2009 film, Halloween II, a sequel to his 2007 remake
of the 1978 film, Halloween.
This song is featured in Bertrand Bonello's 2011 film, House of Tolerance.
This song is played over the opening credits of Tim Burton's 2012 film, Dark Shadows.
This song is featured in the 2006 comedy/parody film American Dreamz.
This song is featured in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a novel by Stephen Chbosky as
it appears on a music playlist by the novel's protagonist, Charlie.
This song is featured in The Boat That Rocked.
This song is featured in the Heath Kirchart segment in the 2001 Transworld Skateboarding
video Sight Unseen.
It is also featured in the Wiseguy episode "No One Gets Out of Here Alive", in the climactic
scene between Vinnie Terranova and Sonny Steelgrave.
This was removed in the DVD release.
The song is featured in the TV movie The 70s.
This song is featured in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo when Deuce gets high on space cake.
This song is featured in the Fringe episode "In Absentia", appearing in the background
as Walter Bishop addresses his future self on a video tape.
This song is featured in the Freaks and Geeks episode "Girlfriends and Boyfriends".
Sandra version "Nights in White Satin" is a dance-pop cover
version performed by German singer Sandra.
The song appeared on Sandra's sixth studio album Fading Shades.
It was produced by Michael Cretu and received mixed reception from music critics.
The song was released as the lead single in the spring of 1995, although it failed to
match the success of Sandra's previous singles.
The song entered the Top twenty in Finland and Australia, but in Germany, it reached
a peak of eighty-six, becoming her least successful lead single in that country to date.
In the United Kingdom, it failed to enter the chart.
The music video, directed by Angel Hart, showed only close ups of Sandra's face as she was
pregnant at the time.
She even had to sit during the recording sessions of the album.
Formats and track listings CD single
"Nights in White Satin" – 3:35 "Nights in White Satin" – 5:29
CD Maxi-single "Nights in White Satin" – 3:35
"Nights in White Satin" – 6:05 "Nights in White Satin" – 5:29
"Nights in White Satin" – 6:09 "Nights in White Satin" – 4:02
12" single "Nights in White Satin" – 6:05
"Nights in White Satin" – 5:29 "Nights in White Satin" – 6:09
"Nights in White Satin" – 4:02 Charts
Other cover versions Franck Pourcel 1967
Beavers I Nomadi "Ho difeso il mio amore" on I Nomadi
Patricia "Mes rêves de satin", French version Dalida Un Po D'amore
Tommy Körberg "Nights in White Satin", on Nature boy and "Nätter av saknad", Swedish
version, on Judy min vän Marie Rottrová – "Slunce vstává", Czech
version Billie Davis
Claude Denjean 1970, on the album Moog!
Eric Burdon and War Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge, "The
Brooklyn Bridge" Samael Lilith "Nights in White Satin",
Deodato Juliane Werding "Wildes Wasser", German version
Giorgio Moroder The London Symphony Orchestra
Bermuda Triangle Band The Dickies
Carlos Futura Sound Fantasy album 1979 Marie Laforêt "Blanche nuit de satin", French
version Elkie Brooks
Jon St. James The Shadows
Jacky Cheung on his 昨夜夢魂中 album, 1988)
James Last 1991 Alain Bashung
David Lanz Sandra
Nancy Sinatra Crossi
Lucie Bílá "Noc je jak satén" – Czech version
The Bates - German Punk band version on album "2nd Skin"
Sort Sol Mario Frangoulis
The Vision Bleak God is an Astronaut
Tori Amos Covered this song several times on tour during 2003 and 2005
John Cowan and Moody Bluegrass, Declan Galbraith
Il Divo Glenn Hughes with John Frusciante and Chad
Smith Quidam
Irish duo RUA recorded a version on their 2007 album 'WHISPER'
Tina Arena on her album Songs of Love & Loss II, 2008
Midnight Movies Fariborz Lachini A Solo Piano version on his
Golden Memories 1 album, 2008 Diane di Stasio
Collide Cemetery Of Scream
Powers of The Monk Eugene McCarthy
Zeds Dead Will Martin
The Man-Eating Tree Bettye LaVette
Gerry & The Pacemakers – Nights in White Satin
Offer Nissim featuring Ivri Lider – Nights in White Satin
Jennifer Rush Damien Saez
Celtic Thunder Blumfeld
Rock Goddess Ed Kavalee On Get This
Matt Cardle Donald Braswell II on his 2011 album, Unchained
Sin Fang Craig Bevan
Deborah Sasson on her 2004 album Pop Classics Transatlantic on their 2014 progressive rock
album Kaleidoscope Emily West performed it during the Top 12
of season 9 of America's Got Talent References
External links Information on the song from BBC Radio 2