‘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 following its release, peaking at No. 1 on UK New Musical Express, Melody Maker and Top Pops charts, and remains Deep Purple's highest charting UK single. It 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. It was also the second non-album single penned by the band, and also reached number 6 in South Africa.
Bands often complain about record companies putting pressure on them to produce a hit song, but in many cases, these tactics work. That was the case here, as Deep Purple bass player Roger Glover explained in a 1988 interview with Metal Hammer. Said Glover: "I love the way that song was born. It happened one night in the studio after we finished Deep Purple In Rock and the management were screaming for a single, because there wasn't an obvious single on the album. So we thought that we'd humor them, because we never thought of ourselves as a singles band. We spent a whole afternoon trying to get a riff and nothing happened. Around 7:30 we decided to go down to the pub and stayed there until closing time and came back to the studio completely drunk whereupon Ritchie (Blackmore) picked up the guitar and started playing what was to become 'Black Night' and we said 'yeah, that sounds great let's do that.'"
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.
‘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.
Labels – Harvest (UK), Warner Bros. (US)
Songwriters – Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord, Ian Paice
Producers – Deep Purple
SONG LYRICS
[Intro][Verse 1]
Black night is not right
I don't feel so bright
I don't care to sit tight
[Chorus]
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, free to be me
Black night is a long way from home
[Verse 2]
I don't need a dark tree
I don't want a rough sea
I can't feel, I can't see
[Chorus]
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, free to be me
Black night is a long way from home
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Black night, black night
I don't need black night
I can't see dark light
[Chorus]
Maybe I'll find on the way down the line
That I'm free, free to be me
Black night is a long way from home
[Guitar Solo/Outro]