Black Night

For other uses, see Black Night (disambiguation).

For the other song, see Black Night (Charles Brown song).

"Black Night"
Single by Deep Purple
B-side	"Speed King" (UK) "Into the Fire" (US)
Released	5 June 1970 (1970-06-05)
Recorded	May 1970
Studio	De Lane Lea Studios
Genre	Hard rock[1] boogie rock[2] heavy metal[3]
Length	3:28
Label	Harvest (UK) Warner Bros. (US)
Songwriter(s)	Ritchie Blackmore Ian Gillan Roger Glover Jon Lord Ian Paice
Producer(s)	Deep Purple
Deep Purple singles chronology
"Hallelujah" (1969) "Black Night" (1970) "Strange Kind of Woman" (1971)

"Black Night" is a song by English hard rock band Deep Purple, released as a single in June 1970 and later included on the 25th Anniversary version of their 1970 studio album, Deep Purple in Rock. It became a hit in August 1970 following the succes of that album, peaking at No. 1 on UK New Musical Express and Melody Maker charts, while reaching No. 2 on the Official UK Singles charts, and remains Deep Purple's highest charting UK single. It also topped the charts in Switzerland, and is one of only two singles from the band to chart in Ireland, peaking at No. 4, thus making it the group's only Irish Top 10 hit.

Writing process and recording

Once Deep Purple in Rock had been completed, EMI asked for a suitable single to be recorded to help promote the album. Though Roger Glover states that Ricky Nelson's 1962 hard rocking arrangement of the George Gershwin song "Summertime" was the basis for the Mk II Deep Purple single "Black Night,"[4] it is also similar to Blues Magoos's 1966 psychedelic hit song "(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet."[5] In the BBC documentary Heavy Metal Britannia, keyboardist Jon Lord supports Glover's statement about the song's origin, stating "Black Night was nicked from the bass line in Ricky Nelson's Summertime" and then proceeds to play the bassline riff on his grand piano.[6]

Live performances

"Black Night" made its way into the setlist soon after release, generally as the first encore. It was not played in full after Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left the band in 1973, but snippets were often played by Ritchie Blackmore as part of his improvisations. On the reformation of Deep Purple in 1984, it returned as part of the main set list. The song is featured on many Deep Purple live albums.^[citation needed]

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Black Night"

Chart (1970–71)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7]	14
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8]	4
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8]	6
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[8]	1
Canada (RPM)[9]	67
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)	34
Ireland (IRMA)	4
Italy (Musica e dischi)[10]	16
Netherlands (Singles Top 100)[8]	8
Norway (VG-lista)[8]	2
South Africa (Springbok)[11]	6
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[8]	1
UK Singles (OCC)	2
US Billboard Hot 100[12]	66
West Germany (Official German Charts)[8]	2

Personnel

• Ian Gillan – vocals
• Ritchie Blackmore – guitar
• Roger Glover – bass
• Ian Paice – drums
• Jon Lord – organ

References

1. Olivier Richard. CAMION BLANC: LA SOURIS DEGLINGUEE Histoire d'un groupe de rock'n'roll. CAMION BLANC. p. 9. ISBN 978-2-35779-476-4.
2. Dickson, Jamie (2015). "Deep Purple - "Black Night". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. New York: Universe. p. 264.
3. Eddie Trunk (2011). Eddie Trunk's Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Abrams. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-61312-142-9.
4. "The Making of Black Night". Rumba Magazine. 1993. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
5. Smith, Sid (18 April 2007). "Deep Purple in Rock Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
6. BBC-Heavy Metal Brittania: at the 42:30 timeframe of the programme
7. Australian chart peaks:
   • Top 100 (Kent Music Report) singles and albums peaks to 26 June 1988: Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. p. 97. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
   • ARIA Chart singles and album peaks (top 50 from 26 June 1988; top 100 from January 1990) to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
   • For "King of Dreams""Bubbling Down Under". 29 October 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
8. "Deep Purple – Black Night". hitparade.ch.
9. Canadian singles:
   • "Hush" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "Kentucky Woman" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "River Deep – Mountain High" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "Emmaretta" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "Black Night/Speed King" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "Smoke on Water" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "Woman from Tokyo" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
   • "Might Just Take Your Life" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
   • "King of Dreams" (PDF). RPM. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
10. "Top Annuali Singoli 1971". Hit Parade Italia.
11. "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1965 - 1989 Songs (A-B)". rock.co.za.
12. "Chart History: Deep Purple". Billboard.

Sources

• Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-85828-201-2.