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Good Night (song)

 

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Good Night (song)



 
 
"Good Night" is the final song by The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
 on their self-titled album
The Beatles (album)

The Beatles is the ninth official U.K. album and the fifteenth U.S. album by The Beatles, a double album 1968 in music. It is more commonly known as The White Album as it has no text other than the band's name on its plain white sleeve....
 (aka The White Album). It is sung by Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey Order of the British Empire , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an England musician, singer-songwriter and actor, best known as the drummer for The Beatles....
, the only Beatle to appear on the song. The music is provided by an orchestra
Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
 arranged and conducted by George Martin
George Martin

Sir George Henry Martin Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom record producer, arrangement and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"?a title that he owes to his work as producer or co-producer of all of The Beatles' original records as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks?and is considered one o...
. John Lennon
John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon, Order of the British Empire was an English Rock music musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles....
 originally wrote the song as a lullaby
Lullaby

A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetative....
 for his son Julian
Julian Lennon

John Charles Julian Lennon , known universally as Julian Lennon, and by some fans as Jude, is an England singer, songwriter, musician, and first son of The Beatles John Lennon and the only child of Lennon's first wife Cynthia Powell....
 when he was five years old.

George Martin's arrangement is excessively lush, and intentionally so. Lennon is said to have wanted the song to sound "real cheesy" — like a Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Jenkins

Gordon Hill Jenkins was an United States arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements....
-esque Hollywood production number. The musicians play the following instruments: twelve violins, three violas, three cellos, one harp, three flutes, one clarinet, one horn, one vibraphone and one string bass.






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"Good Night" is the final song by The Beatles
The Beatles

The Beatles were a rock music and pop music band from Liverpool, England that formed in 1960. During their career, the group primarily consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr ....
 on their self-titled album
The Beatles (album)

The Beatles is the ninth official U.K. album and the fifteenth U.S. album by The Beatles, a double album 1968 in music. It is more commonly known as The White Album as it has no text other than the band's name on its plain white sleeve....
 (aka The White Album). It is sung by Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr

Richard Starkey Order of the British Empire , better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an England musician, singer-songwriter and actor, best known as the drummer for The Beatles....
, the only Beatle to appear on the song. The music is provided by an orchestra
Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
 arranged and conducted by George Martin
George Martin

Sir George Henry Martin Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom record producer, arrangement and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"?a title that he owes to his work as producer or co-producer of all of The Beatles' original records as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks?and is considered one o...
. John Lennon
John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon, Order of the British Empire was an English Rock music musician, singer, songwriter, artist, and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles....
 originally wrote the song as a lullaby
Lullaby

A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to children before they go to sleep, with the intention of speeding that process. As a result they are often simple and repetative....
 for his son Julian
Julian Lennon

John Charles Julian Lennon , known universally as Julian Lennon, and by some fans as Jude, is an England singer, songwriter, musician, and first son of The Beatles John Lennon and the only child of Lennon's first wife Cynthia Powell....
 when he was five years old.

George Martin's arrangement is excessively lush, and intentionally so. Lennon is said to have wanted the song to sound "real cheesy" — like a Gordon Jenkins
Gordon Jenkins

Gordon Hill Jenkins was an United States arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements....
-esque Hollywood production number. The musicians play the following instruments: twelve violins, three violas, three cellos, one harp, three flutes, one clarinet, one horn, one vibraphone and one string bass. The Mike Sammes Singers
Mike Sammes

Mike Sammes was a musician and human voice session musician arrangement. From 1955 to the 1970s, he was responsible for much of the backing vocalist on pop music sound recording and reproduction in the United Kingdom....
 also took part in the recording.

The song has been covered
Cover version

In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song.In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning — implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all...
 by several artists, including the Carpenters
The Carpenters

The Carpenters were a vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter and Richard Carpenter . Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and press materials is simply "Carpenters", without the Article ....
, Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins

Kenneth Clark "Kenny" Loggins is an United States singer and songwriter best known for a number of soft rock and adult contemporary hit singles beginning in the 1970s....
, Cyril Stapleton
Cyril Stapleton

Cyril Stapleton was a England violinist and jazz bandleader.Born in Mapperley, Nottingham, Stapleton began playing violin at age 7, and played on local radio station at the age of 12....
, the Manhattan Transfer
The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer is an United States vocal group. There have been two incarnations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only member to feature in both....
, and Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz
Micky Dolenz

George Michael Dolenz, Jr. is an United States actor, musician, television director and theatre direction; he is best known for his role as the drummer/vocalist in the 1960s made-for-television band, The Monkees....
 and the "Forces Sweetheart" Vera Lynn
Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn Order of the British Empire is a popular United Kingdom vocalist whose career flourished during World War II, when she was nicknamed "Forces Sweetheart"....
 who released it as a single and performed it on a BBC TV variety show. It was also chosen by the British band Coldplay
Coldplay

Coldplay are a United Kingdom alternative rock Musical ensemble formed in London, England in 1998. The group comprises vocalist/pianist/guitarist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Champion....
 to play out after the band had left the stage at concerts on their 2005–2006 Twisted Logic Tour
Twisted Logic Tour

The Twisted Logic Tour was a global concert tour in support of Coldplay third album, X&Y. The year-long tour took the band across Europe and their native Great Britain, as well as to the United States and Canada....
.

The song makes two appearances on the Beatles' soundtrack
Love (The Beatles album)

Love is a Grammy Award-winning soundtrack compilation album of music recorded by The Beatles, released in November 2006. It features music compiled and remixed for the Cirque du Soleil show Love ....
 to the Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil is an entertainment company. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul, Qu?bec in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Lalibert? and Daniel Gauthier....
 production of Love
LOVE (Cirque du Soleil)

Love is a 2006 theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which combines the re-produced and re-imagined music of The Beatles with an interpretive, circus-based artistic and athletic stage performance....
. It first can be heard at the end of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

"'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'" is a song by English rock music band The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for the group's 1967 album Sgt....
" transitioning into "Octopus's Garden
Octopus's Garden

"Octopus's Garden" is a song written by Ringo Starr with a little help from George Harrison . It is featured on The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road , and their later albums The Beatles 1967-1970, Anthology 3 and most recently the Mashup album Love ....
". It can be heard a minor third lower than originally recorded. After the orchestral intro to the third verse of "Good Night", the same orchestral accompaniment is played over a sample of Ringo Starr freely, slowly singing the opening words to "Octopus's Garden". Later, at the end of the show, after the strains of "All You Need Is Love
All You Need Is Love

"All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link....
" have faded out, the orchestral outro of "Good Night" (in its original key, G major) (as well as the last bits of dialogue in the Beatles' fan club-exclusive Christmas album) brings the album to a peaceful close.

In the 1980s, it was used as the soundtrack to an animated film that was used for the daily close-down of Sydney, Australia's Seven Network
Seven Network

The Seven Network is an Australia Television broadcasting in Australia owned by the Seven Media Group. It dates back to 2 December 1956, when the first stations on the Very high frequency frequency were established in Sydney and Melbourne....
 affiliate, ATN-7
ATN-7

ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The license, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of John Fairfax Holdings, was one of the first four licenses to be issued for commercial television stations in Australia....
. The sequence contained brief cartoon nudity, so it earned considerable controversy. The song was also used back in the 1970s on Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro, North Carolina

Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city, by population, in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County, North Carolina and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region....
's WFMY-TV
WFMY-TV

WFMY-TV, channel 2, is a television station in Greensboro, North Carolina. Owned by the Gannett Company, WFMY-TV is the CBS affiliate for the Greensboro/High Point, North Carolina/Winston-Salem, North Carolina area....
 when they were signing off the air.

A truncated version of the recording was used in the close-down of Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest City in New Jersey, and the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey. Newark has a population of 281,402, making it not only List of Municipalities in New Jersey but also the 65th List of United States cities by population Newark is also home to major corporations, such as Prudential Financial....
 TV station WWHT for its short-lived rock video format as "U-68" in 1986.

A later cover version, appeared in the Mexican TV '70s show El Chavo del Ocho, on the Acapulco special sung in Spanish by Chespirito and titled "Buenas noches, vecindad" (literally, "Good night, neighborhood").

A 1 second clip of the song is heard on the Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney Member of the Order of the British Empire is a multiple Grammy Award-winning England singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer, Painting, and Animal rights....
 album Liverpool Sound Collage
Liverpool Sound Collage

Liverpool Sound Collage is an ambient electronic album by Paul McCartney, which is also credited to The Beatles, Super Furry Animals, and Martin Glover....
 at 3:38 on the track 'Plastic Beetle'

External links

  • (featuring Good Night)