Walkin' After Midnight
Encyclopedia
"Walkin' After Midnight" is a song by written by Alan Block and Donn Hecht and originally recorded by American
country music
artist Patsy Cline
. The song was originally given to pop singer Kay Starr
; however, it was rejected by her record label. The song was left unused until Hecht rediscovered the song when writing for Four Star Records
. Originally Cline was not fond of "Walkin' After Midnight", but after making a compromise with her label, she recorded it.
In January 1957, Cline performed the song on an episode of the CBS
television program, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
. It garnered a strong response from viewers, and was therefore rush-released as a single February 11, 1957. "Walkin' After Midnight" became Cline's first major hit single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard country music chart
, and No. 12 on its pop chart
. Although the song was her only hit until 1961, the single version sold over one million copies and is often included on authoritative lists of the all-time greatest songs in country music.
. Among his catalog of Pop-styled songs was "Walkin' After Midnight", which was originally intended for traditional pop artist Kay Starr. The original version had been rejected by Starr's record label, and was left unused for years. After discovering the song again, Hecht made some minor changes to it and gave it to Cline's producer. Cline's original reaction to "Walkin' After Midnight" was negative; however, Hecht and Four Star owner Bill McCall came to an agreement with her. The compromise was that Cline would record it as long as she could also record "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)
", a song she favored. "Walkin' After Midnight" was then recorded at the Bradley Film and Recording Studios on November 8, 1956 and was produced by Paul Cohen
,along with "A Poor Man's Roses", "The Heart You Break May Be Your Own", and "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down".
"Walkin' After Midnight" is a country pop
song with stylistic elements taken from the genres of jazz, traditional pop, and blues. The song was recorded in the key of C major
and the song follows the traditional AABA form. "Walkin' After Midnight" features instrumentation from an acoustic guitar
, basic drums and piano
, steel guitar
, electric guitar
, and acoustic bass
. Its session members were part of Nashville's A-Team of musicians, who would play on most of the recording sessions on RCA Victor and Decca Records
. Among the musicians were Harold Bradley
, Grady Martin
, and Bob Moore
, all of whom would later play on Cline's later records in the early 1960s.
and country music
of the time. Unterberger went on to say, "While Cline's vocal is a little restrained in comparison with the approach she used on her better-known sides in the early 1960s, it's well-suited for the almost bemused aura of loneliness of the lyric. More than any of the other songs she recorded for the 4 Star label in the 1950s, it anticipates the successful country-pop fusion of her crossover hits for Decca in the early 1960s."
television program hosted by Arthur Godfrey
entitled, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
. Originally intended to be performed on the show was "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)
," instead the producers of the show preferred "Walkin' After Midnight". Although Cline did not want to sing it, she performed the song during the 8:30 slot of the program. The applause meter on the show had a technical difficulty and froze during her performance due to the excessive amount of applause from the audience. Because of the great amount of applause, Cline won first place in the show that night. Because of the song's popularity on the show, Decca Records
(Four Star leased their music to Decca) released "Walkin' After Midnight" as a single on February 11, 1957. The song quickly debuted on the Billboard charts, eventually peaking at No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs
chart and No. 12 on the Pop chart
by March 3. "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)" was released as the single's B-side
, also charting on the Billboard Country chart at No. 14. Because the single had become a significant hit, Decca issued her debut album August 5, 1957, simply titled, Patsy Cline
. The album however did not contain the flip-side.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
. The song was originally given to pop singer Kay Starr
Kay Starr
Kay Starr is an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 50s. She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz"....
; however, it was rejected by her record label. The song was left unused until Hecht rediscovered the song when writing for Four Star Records
Four Star Records
4 Star Records is the name of a record label that recorded many well-known country music acts in the 1950s. The label, founded after World War II, was home to singers such as Hank Locklin, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Rose Maddox, Webb Pierce and T. Texas Tyler...
. Originally Cline was not fond of "Walkin' After Midnight", but after making a compromise with her label, she recorded it.
In January 1957, Cline performed the song on an episode of the CBS
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
television program, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958...
. It garnered a strong response from viewers, and was therefore rush-released as a single February 11, 1957. "Walkin' After Midnight" became Cline's first major hit single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard country music chart
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
, and No. 12 on its pop chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. Although the song was her only hit until 1961, the single version sold over one million copies and is often included on authoritative lists of the all-time greatest songs in country music.
Background and composition
The song was written by Alan Block and Donn Hecht a few years before its recorded version by Cline. According to Hecht, after securing a songwriting contract with Four Star Records, his assignment was to pick an artist from the label who he could compose a song for. Hecht was impressed by Cline's vocals and realized her voice was best-suited to pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. Among his catalog of Pop-styled songs was "Walkin' After Midnight", which was originally intended for traditional pop artist Kay Starr. The original version had been rejected by Starr's record label, and was left unused for years. After discovering the song again, Hecht made some minor changes to it and gave it to Cline's producer. Cline's original reaction to "Walkin' After Midnight" was negative; however, Hecht and Four Star owner Bill McCall came to an agreement with her. The compromise was that Cline would record it as long as she could also record "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)
A Poor Man's Roses (or a Rich Man's Gold)
"A Poor Man's Roses " is a popular song, popularized by Patti Page and also by Patsy Cline in 1957 and again in 1981. The song was written by Bob Hilliard and Milton De Lugg ....
", a song she favored. "Walkin' After Midnight" was then recorded at the Bradley Film and Recording Studios on November 8, 1956 and was produced by Paul Cohen
Paul Cohen (producer)
Paul Cohen was an American country music producer.One of the men chiefly responsible for Nashville’s emergence as the country music recording capital and the Nashville Sound was Chicago-born Paul Cohen, long-time Decca Records executive...
,along with "A Poor Man's Roses", "The Heart You Break May Be Your Own", and "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down".
"Walkin' After Midnight" is a country pop
Country pop
Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to...
song with stylistic elements taken from the genres of jazz, traditional pop, and blues. The song was recorded in the key of C major
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
and the song follows the traditional AABA form. "Walkin' After Midnight" features instrumentation from an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, basic drums and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
, electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, and acoustic bass
Acoustic bass guitar
The acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar...
. Its session members were part of Nashville's A-Team of musicians, who would play on most of the recording sessions on RCA Victor and Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. Among the musicians were Harold Bradley
Harold Bradley
Harold Bradley is a pop guitarist and an American country guitarist.Harold played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen Bradley. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the...
, Grady Martin
Grady Martin
Thomas Grady Martin was one of the most renowned, inventive and historically significant American session musicians in country music and rockabilly....
, and Bob Moore
Bob Moore
Bob Loyce Moore is an American session musician, orchestra leader, and bassist who was a member of the legendary Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 60s.-Biography:...
, all of whom would later play on Cline's later records in the early 1960s.
Critical reception
Alanna Nash of the book, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Country Music in America called "Walkin' After Midnight," "bluesy," while Richie Unterberger of Allmusic also praised the song, calling its beat "bouncy" and its overall sound to be different from RockabillyRockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
of the time. Unterberger went on to say, "While Cline's vocal is a little restrained in comparison with the approach she used on her better-known sides in the early 1960s, it's well-suited for the almost bemused aura of loneliness of the lyric. More than any of the other songs she recorded for the 4 Star label in the 1950s, it anticipates the successful country-pop fusion of her crossover hits for Decca in the early 1960s."
Impact and chart performance
On January 28, 1957, Cline was invited to perform a song on the CBSCBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
television program hosted by Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
entitled, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts is an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958...
. Originally intended to be performed on the show was "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)
A Poor Man's Roses (or a Rich Man's Gold)
"A Poor Man's Roses " is a popular song, popularized by Patti Page and also by Patsy Cline in 1957 and again in 1981. The song was written by Bob Hilliard and Milton De Lugg ....
," instead the producers of the show preferred "Walkin' After Midnight". Although Cline did not want to sing it, she performed the song during the 8:30 slot of the program. The applause meter on the show had a technical difficulty and froze during her performance due to the excessive amount of applause from the audience. Because of the great amount of applause, Cline won first place in the show that night. Because of the song's popularity on the show, Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
(Four Star leased their music to Decca) released "Walkin' After Midnight" as a single on February 11, 1957. The song quickly debuted on the Billboard charts, eventually peaking at No. 2 on the Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart and No. 12 on the Pop chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
by March 3. "A Poor Man's Roses (Or a Rich Man's Gold)" was released as the single's B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, also charting on the Billboard Country chart at No. 14. Because the single had become a significant hit, Decca issued her debut album August 5, 1957, simply titled, Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline (album)
Patsy Cline is a self-titled studio album by American country music singer, Patsy Cline, released on August 5, 1957. This was the debut album by Cline and would be one of three studio albums Cline would record during her lifetime.-Background:...
. The album however did not contain the flip-side.
Personnel
- Harold BradleyHarold BradleyHarold Bradley is a pop guitarist and an American country guitarist.Harold played banjo as a child but switched to guitar on the advice of his elder brother, Owen Bradley. Owen arranged for Harold to tour with Ernest Tubb while Harold was still in high school. After graduation, Harold joined the...
– acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - Owen BradleyOwen BradleyOwen Bradley was an American record producer who, along with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly.-Before the fame:...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... - Patsy Cline – lead vocals
- Farris Coursey – drums
- Don Helms – steel guitarSteel guitarSteel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
- Tommy Jackson – fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
- Grady MartinGrady MartinThomas Grady Martin was one of the most renowned, inventive and historically significant American session musicians in country music and rockabilly....
– electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker... - Bob MooreBob MooreBob Loyce Moore is an American session musician, orchestra leader, and bassist who was a member of the legendary Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 60s.-Biography:...
– acoustic bassAcoustic bass guitarThe acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar... - Paul CohenPaul Cohen (producer)Paul Cohen was an American country music producer.One of the men chiefly responsible for Nashville’s emergence as the country music recording capital and the Nashville Sound was Chicago-born Paul Cohen, long-time Decca Records executive...
- record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Charts
| Chart (1957) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
12 |