Songs that feature night...

July 18, 2006 9:49 PM

Songs which feature night?

I'm trying to make a mixcd of songs that feature night, to be played at night. I'm particularly interested in songs which have crickets (or other ambient sounds of night) mixed into the recording, so if a song qualifies for this category please mark it with an asterisk or something.

So far:
*Elliott Smith - Twilight
*The Wrens - The House That Guilt Built
*Muse - Hate This & I'll Love You

Shivaree - Goodnight Moon
Lou Reed - Goodnight Ladies

posted by inactivist to media & arts (71 comments total)

"Night fever, night fever...We know how to do it" Oh yeah! Bee Gees, baby.

*REM - You Are The Everything (doesn't actually mention night, but starts of with cricketsong, and is very much a quiet night song)
posted by kookoobirdz at 10:01 PM on July 18, 2006

REM - Nightswimming
Patsy Cline - Walking After Midnight
Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Mansion on the Hill
posted by argybarg at 10:06 PM on July 18, 2006

Sarah Vaughn's 'After Hours' CD is very well suited to the night. Really mellow, old school jazz chillout. Highly, highly recommended. No crickets, though.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:08 PM on July 18, 2006

Oh yeah, kookoobirdz' comment reminded me to mention: If the song features sounds of night (crickets), it doesn't actually have to be ABOUT night.
posted by inactivist at 10:13 PM on July 18, 2006

Another one-

The last song on David Byrne's 'Rei Momo' CD, called 'I Know Sometimes A Man Is Wrong'. It uses cricket noises as a rythym track, and is very mellow. Nice fall-asleep song.

The rest of the CD is very upbeat Latin style music, FYI.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:16 PM on July 18, 2006

And another- (no crickets) Queen, off their first release, 'Queen 1'... a song called 'The Night Comes Down'... The whole album is Ur-heavy Metal, but this track is mellow and very chill....

I'll be checking this thread often... Cool question.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 10:19 PM on July 18, 2006

Thelonius Monk (redone by many artists) - Round Midnight
posted by Humanzee at 10:19 PM on July 18, 2006

No crickets, but... For the old fogy set:

You and the night and the music
Moonlight in Vermont
Teach me tonight
Blues in the night
The way you look tonight
A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square
'Round midnight
Midnight special

And twilight related:
Stardust
When the deep purple falls
Crepuscule with Nellie

I could go on, but you get the idea. Night is something of a recurring theme in popular song.
posted by Quinbus Flestrin at 10:20 PM on July 18, 2006

* Deep Forest - Sweet Lullaby
posted by JMOZ at 10:21 PM on July 18, 2006

Easy Tonight - Five For Fighting

A Warning Sign - Coldplay

One Night Is Not Enough - Snow Patrol

A Whisper - Coldplay
posted by bamassippi at 10:22 PM on July 18, 2006

I think probably you want songs that evoke the feeling of night, not just songs that have the word "night" in them, right? Because if it's the latter, you've got approximately one jillion to choose from.
posted by jjg at 10:26 PM on July 18, 2006

"Night is a woman who embraces me
Her hair is dark and thick and it will tumble down
She dresses up her shadows in a flowing gown
And she's always welcome when she hits this town
She is always everything she wants to be
Night is a woman who embraces me"

Night is a Woman, John Gorka
posted by weston at 10:26 PM on July 18, 2006

Waiting for the Night, by Depeche Mode
posted by rio at 10:29 PM on July 18, 2006

Sarah Harmer does a great cover of Summertime that has the faint sound of crickets in the background.
posted by sanitycheck at 10:35 PM on July 18, 2006

Yo La Tengo - Night Falls on Hoboken
posted by RobotAdam at 10:38 PM on July 18, 2006

jjg, you're right, I'm trying to gather songs which evoke night, and there are TONS. But I am particularly interested in songs that mention night, which narrows it down somewhat, and particularly songs with ambient night sounds (crickets/frogs) which narrows it down even more. I figured it was worth a shot.

Great suggestions, keep 'em coming! One more I thought of:

Elliott Smith - No Name #3 (about night, and is the best mellow late-night driving song EVER)
posted by inactivist at 10:45 PM on July 18, 2006

Van Morrison, Moondance
posted by frogan at 10:46 PM on July 18, 2006

Thin Lizzy - Dancing in the Moonlight
posted by robcorr at 10:47 PM on July 18, 2006

The Beatles - Sun King.
posted by Addlepated at 10:48 PM on July 18, 2006

Nick Drake, Pink Moon

This was one of the excellent songs used in a Volkswagen commercial -- the one with the four people driving in an open convertible VW at night.
posted by frogan at 10:48 PM on July 18, 2006

African Night Flight - Bowie
posted by caddis at 10:54 PM on July 18, 2006

There's probably something you'd find interesting on Vangelis's The City
posted by krisjohn at 11:01 PM on July 18, 2006

Nights in White Satin - Moody Blues
Hollywood Nights - Bob Segar
Here Comes the Night - Bowie, Van Morrison, several others
Nightwatchman - T. Petty and the H. Breakers
Because the Night - 10000 Maniacs

and lest we forget

Strangers in the Night - Sinatra
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:09 PM on July 18, 2006

Vic Chesnutt and Victoria Williams - God Is Good

the Cure - a Night Like This

Elysian Fields - Rope of Weeds

* Miho Omasu - Aragusuku no Uta (kinda strange traditional sounding Japanese song with ocean and night insects sounds)

Suba - a Noite Sem Fim (Endless Night) instrumental

* Dubstar - Stars (this version has some storm sounds)
posted by thirteenkiller at 11:11 PM on July 18, 2006

Pogues - Four O'Clock in the Morning
posted by thirteenkiller at 11:14 PM on July 18, 2006

George_Spiggott : yes, I'm being a pedant, but I'm pretty sure it's 'Knights in White Satin'

In the same vein (prog-rock) how about 'Moon Child' by King Crimson.

This is fun.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 11:15 PM on July 18, 2006

Love for Sale --Ella
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:22 PM on July 18, 2006

*M. Ward, "Transfiguration #1," from Transfiguration of Vincent, features crickets, though has no words and is therefore not about night. It is quite a nice evening song, though; I often play it at bedtime.
posted by librarina at 11:22 PM on July 18, 2006

this sprang to mind before reading the question properly but anyway - Cyndi Lauper / Roy Orbison - I Drove all night
posted by chrissyboy at 11:24 PM on July 18, 2006

Oh, and Rio by Michael Nesmith. (Winner of the first ever video Grammy, I believe.)
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:27 PM on July 18, 2006

Some more appropriate tunes than roy orbison (!):

DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
Jimi Hendrix - Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Honeyroot - Starshine
Gorillaz - Starshine
Advertising the Invisible - Night Walker
Daft Punk - Nightvision
The Eels - the stars shine in the sky tonight
Thom Yorke - And It Rained All Night
posted by chrissyboy at 11:35 PM on July 18, 2006

"In Dark Trees," "Everything Merges With The Night," Brian Eno
"Night Falls Like A Grand Piano," The 6ths
"Subterraneans," David Bowie
"Asleep and Dreaming," "The Way You Say Good-Night," The Magnetic Fields
"Northern Sky," "Day Is Done," "Pink Moon," Nick Drake
posted by Vervain at 11:36 PM on July 18, 2006

Because the Night - 10000 Maniacs

Blasphemy. Go for the original Patti Smith recording, or Springsteen's (it's his song).

Good Night - Beatles
Hard Day's Night - Beatles
Another Saturday Night - Sam Cooke
Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight - James Taylor
In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins
I Could Have Danced All Night, from "My Fair Lady"
In The Heat of the Night - Ray Charles
The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia - Reba McIntyre
Tonight The Heartache's On Me - Dixie Chicks

Standards recorded many times:
In The Still of the Night
Midnight Train to Georgia
Night & Day
Saturday Night Is The Loneliest Night
The Way You Look Tonight
You and the Night and the Music

(Would a bedtime lullaby like Baby Mine fit your theme too?)
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 11:41 PM on July 18, 2006

Dylan's Visions of Johanna starts with 'Ain't it just like the night' and has quite a bit of evening/night imagery in it. No crickets though.
posted by devilsbrigade at 11:55 PM on July 18, 2006

Adem - Love And Other Planets
Tindersticks - Another Night In; (Tonight) Are You Trying To Fall In Love Again
Poets Of The Fall - Late Goodbye
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Matt Sweeney - Bed Is For Sleeping
Hope For Agoldensummer - Malt Liquor
posted by mumble at 12:03 AM on July 19, 2006

I second Visions of Johanna. The Night, by Morphine is a beautifully nocturnal song.
posted by misteraitch at 12:07 AM on July 19, 2006

*Club Tropicana - Wham!
Night and day - The Maytals
Everything Merges with the Night - Brian Eno
Midnight at the Oasis - Minnie Riperton / Brand New heavies
Midnight Cowboy - Henry Mancini
Why Spend a Dark Night With Me - Moondog
Night by Night - Steely Dan
Night of the Dancing Flame - Roisin Murphy
Tropical Hotdog Night - Captain Beefheart
Night Beat - Tito Puente
The Perilous Night - John Cage
2 Minutes to Midnight - Iron Maiden

OK, so I just typed 'night' into my iTunes collection. Some good options though I reckon... I could go on.
posted by 0bvious at 12:09 AM on July 19, 2006

"Going Once" by Ani DiFranco (from "To The Teeth") starts out with crickets and the sound of a car driving by.
posted by bisesi at 12:15 AM on July 19, 2006

here are a few of my "night" favorites:

Morphine, "The Night " from the album of the same name (also by Morphine, and night-related: "Eleven'o clock" and "Early to Bed" off of Like Swimming.

Tom Waits, "Raindogs" from Raindogs, "Oily Night" from The Black Rider

the Postal Service, "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight"
posted by ab3 at 12:28 AM on July 19, 2006

Midnight at the Oasis was Maria Muldaur, not Minnie Riperton.
posted by wsg at 1:00 AM on July 19, 2006

Gemma Hayes - Night On My Side and 4.35am
posted by speranza at 1:02 AM on July 19, 2006

Goodnight, Irene: by Leadbelly's uncle
* I love Irene, god knows I do

(Too late)
Love her until the sea run dry
If Irene turns her back on me
(Whatcha gonna do?)
I'm gonna take a morphine and die
posted by hortense at 1:11 AM on July 19, 2006

Metal may not be what you're after, but if you do want to explore that field, there's quite a lot of songs that fit the bill there. A few that come to mind:

Opeth- "The Night and the Silent Water"
Saturnus- "Starres"
Summoning- "Nightshade Forests"
Emperor- "The Majesty of the Nightsky"
Nightwish- "Stargazers" (kind of a guilty pleasure for me here. this song was before they started sucking and being wildly popular with gothy fourteen-year-olds.)
Devin Townsend- "Night"
Katatonia- "Tonight's Music"

In addition to the lyrical themes, I'd say all of these have a pretty nocturnal sound, though that's not unusual with metal. The last three are all on the more poppy and catchy side of things as metal goes, and devoid of cookie monster vocals, if that makes a difference. I actually can't think of anything that uses ambient night sounds off hand, though, which surprises me a bit.

And not metal, but maybe the most nocturnal sounding music I've ever heard, the album "Midnight Radio" by Bohren & Der Club of Gore. It's basically a very slow-paced, noirish sounding jazz album. This review at Aquarius Records(scroll down the page about halfway to find it- sound clips included) sums it up pretty well. It has a very "driving alone through an unfamiliar urban landscape after midnight" kind of feel. Dark stuff, in an understated way.
posted by a louis wain cat at 1:14 AM on July 19, 2006

yo la tengo's "the hour grows late" fits on both aspects of your criteria (sounds night musicy, and about night).

the yeah yeah yeah's "date with the night" comes to mind, though it doesn't have a nighttime sound to go along with it necessarily...
posted by ifjuly at 1:47 AM on July 19, 2006

"Another Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill" by Jens Lekman.

Pretty atmospheric and has the crickets too.
posted by ed\26h at 2:06 AM on July 19, 2006

Eine kleine Nachtmusik?
posted by trip and a half at 2:45 AM on July 19, 2006

jeff-o-matic - nope, it's "Nights"


Another Bob Seger: Night Moves
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:29 AM on July 19, 2006

One of the tracks on the Santana album 'Caravaserai' features crickets in the intro/outro.
posted by funboytree at 3:45 AM on July 19, 2006

Martin Denny's "Quiet Village" is a must.
posted by davidmsc at 4:22 AM on July 19, 2006

I'll Be Your Baby Tonight-- Bob Dylan
All Night Long Blues-- Burnett & Rutherford
I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night-- The Electric Prunes
(Night Time Is) The Right Time-- Ray Charles
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:28 AM on July 19, 2006

Ditto on Martin Denny's 'Quiet Village'. I came along to offer that up myself...

His Moog Moods should not be missed either. Moog 'Midnight Cowboy' rules!
posted by 0bvious at 5:41 AM on July 19, 2006

Sorry, the album is Exotic Moog, not Moog Moods
posted by 0bvious at 5:45 AM on July 19, 2006

Gary Moore / Midnight Blues.
The Capris / There's a Moon Out Tonight
Elvis Presley / Are You Lonesome Tonight
The Doors / End of the Night

And, wait for it....

Buddy Holly and The Crickets / Last Night
posted by Leon at 5:51 AM on July 19, 2006

Here Comes the Night - Bowie, Van Morrison, several others

Argh! "Here Comes the Night" was originally, and best, done by Them, who had a UK #2 hit with it. They were one of the all-time great bands; let's not add to their unjust neglect by subsuming them under the name of their prominent ex-member Van Morrison.
posted by languagehat at 5:58 AM on July 19, 2006

Night Prowler - AC/DC
Good Night - The Beatles
Another Saturday Night - Cat Stevens
Red Sky at Night - David Gilmour
Nightblindness - David Gray
Lazy Moon - Groove Armada
Nightrain - Guns n' Roses
Each Coming Night - Iron & Wine
The Night Inside Me - Jackson Browne
Dark Night of the Soul - Loreena McKennitt
All Souls Night - Loreena McKennitt
The Ghosts of Saturday Night - Tom Waits
The Heart of Saturday Night - Tom Waits
Drunk on the Moon - Tom Waits
Wild Night - Van Morrison
In the Cold Cold Night - White Stripes

and, with crickets,
*In the Days of the Caveman - Crash Test Dummies
posted by pmbuko at 6:02 AM on July 19, 2006

Blue Rodeo: Lost Together.
posted by Floydd at 6:19 AM on July 19, 2006

Possibly the best one of all:
"Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground" by Blind Willie Johnson (link to audio file)
posted by skwm at 6:21 AM on July 19, 2006

*Nothingness by Living Colour
*Summer in the City by Lovin' Spoonful

Night by Jackie Wilson
Here Comes the Night be the Beach Boys (a super-disco-y sounding song from about 1970)
LA Woman by the Doors
Night Time by Elvis Costello

Lots of Morphine, mentioned above would fit; same with Aja-era Steely Dan.

A lot of 50s jazz evokes NYC at night to me, Miles and Coltrane and whatnot.
posted by ibmcginty at 6:34 AM on July 19, 2006

"Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera. Yes, it's clichéd. There've been about a jillion covers, but try the version from the original stage Phantom, Michael Crawford.
posted by booksandlibretti at 6:42 AM on July 19, 2006

Bring on the Night - Police
Darkness - Police
Moon Over Bourbon Street - Sting

c'mon, with this moniker you expect anything else?

No crickets or nature sounds, though. Closest I can think of is the Beatles (whose name was a play on Buddy Holly and the Crickets) with Across The Universe (the version with the birds flapping at the beginning).
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:16 AM on July 19, 2006

Night Train - James Brown, many others
Nightime - Big Star
Os Grillos (Crickets Sing for Anamaria) - Marcos Valle (no cricket sounds)
*Man in the Long Black Coat - Bob Dylan (no night theme though)

According to this review, "Spoiler" by Popular Genius has a cricket sample.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:31 AM on July 19, 2006

Sinatra and Jobim, Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars
posted by Scoo at 10:04 AM on July 19, 2006

Magic - Ben Folds Five
Sambita - Kinky
Kelly Watch the Stars - Air

They are all night related and do very much remind me of the evening. :)
posted by mercurysm2 at 11:09 AM on July 19, 2006

City Drops Into the Night
By Jim Carroll, Steve Linsley, and Brian Linsley

There ain't no crickets, or quiet, in this baby.
posted by caddis at 11:53 AM on July 19, 2006

Tonight's the Night - Neil Young
Spirit in the Night - Bruce Sprinsteen
posted by Neiltupper at 12:09 PM on July 19, 2006

Um.. no one's come up with "After Midnight" yet?

Seconded on "Because the Night". Patti, or, begrudgingly (and only because he wrote it), Bruce.

Do you want the ~feel~, the lyrics, the words, or any of it? There are so very many to choose from.
posted by Meep! Eek! at 1:53 PM on July 19, 2006

Do you want the ~feel~, the lyrics, the words, or any of it?

I do. Instrumentals are great, but sympathizing with a song's sentiment adds a whole new dimension. Really, I'm most interested in mellow atmospheric things that conjure night sonically and also verbally when possible. Things for those late, clear, beautiful summer nights... happy or sad, it's irrelevant. There are lots of rowdy not-too-atmospheric songs suggested here, which isn't what I'm after, but I love music recommendations so I don't discourage those.

Also: Cibo Matto - Moonchild

Thanks for the Morphine rec, I'm enjoying that one especially.
posted by inactivist at 2:11 PM on July 19, 2006

For something melodic and atmospheric, I would suggest "Vincent" by Don McLean. ("Starry, starry night")

Of course, I suppose that depends on the atmosphere you're looking to create. It's very beautiful, but also very, very sad.
posted by Meep! Eek! at 4:50 PM on July 19, 2006

As Above So Below by Manfred Mann (Nightingales and Bombers) is cool and weird. Little Night Dancin' by John Mellencamp (John Cougar) is more mainstream and pop.
posted by beetsuits at 5:32 PM on July 19, 2006

Night in my veins, The Pretenders, yo!
posted by thinkpiece at 7:22 PM on July 19, 2006

One more with nature sounds:

*Brazil - Cornelius (not night themed)
posted by hydrophonic at 10:23 AM on July 21, 2006