‘Shadows of the Night’ is a song composed by D.L. Byron explicitly for the 1980 film Times Square, which tells the story of two young runaways in New York City. The song did not make it into the movie and Byron's own record label rejected it, claiming the song "wasn't commercial enough." It was released as a single by Helen Schneider in 1981 as well as on her album Schneider with the Kick. According to Byron, Schneider's version went 5× platinum in Germany and the Benelux countries.
The most famous version was then released in September 1982 by American rock singer Pat Benatar, as the lead single from her fourth studio album Get Nervous. Benatar's recording reached number 3 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, the Top 15 on the US Hot 100 and in Canada, and the Top 20 in Australia. The lyrics of Benatar's version differ slightly from both previous versions. Like ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot,’ it was a song written by a man that Benatar had to reverse gender. Her powerful voice and strong persona helped pull it off, as lines like "baby take my hand, it'll be all right" are more typically delivered by the guy trying to comfort his damsel.
Pat Benatar was one of MTV's early stars - her ‘You Better Run’ clip was just the second video the network played when they launched in 1981. For ‘Shadows of the Night,’ a conceptual video was made by director Mark Robinson showing Pat as a WWII flying ace doing her part to fight the Nazis while also singing from her aircraft. We find out at the end that she is really a riveter, and it was all a dream. It features Judge Reinhold as a pilot and Bill Paxton as a Wehrmacht Unteroffizier. Benatar's T-6 Texan aircraft is named Midnight Angel, a phrase also used in the song itself with a different meaning ("And now the hands of time are standin' still/Midnight angel, won't you say you will").
Benatar won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, four years in a row. ‘Shadows of the Night’ was her third win, following ‘Crimes Of Passion’ and ‘Fire And Ice,’ and preceding ‘Love Is A Battlefield.’
Label – Chrysalis
Songwriters – David Leigh Byron, Rachel Sweet
Producers - Peter Coleman, Neil Giraldo
SONG LYRICS
[Hook]We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end
[Verse 1]
You said, "Oh girl, it's a cold world
When you keep it all to yourself"
I said, "You can't hide on the inside
All the pain you've ever felt"
[Pre-Hook 1]
Ransom my heart, but baby don't look back
Cause we got nobody else"
[Hook]
[Verse 2]
You know that sometimes, it feels like
It's all moving way too fast
Use every alibi and words you deny
That love ain't meant to last
[Pre-Hook 2]
You can cry tough baby, it's all right
You can let me down easy, but not tonight
[Hook x2]
[Pre-Hook 3]
And now the hands of time are standing still
Midnight angel, won't you say you will
[Hook x3]