Patti Smith – Because The Night ….Under The Covers Tuesday

I first heard this song by Springsteen before I ever heard it by Patti Smith. I’m not sure how I kept missing her version.

Patti Smith has more of a cult following and this is by far the biggest hit she ever had.

Bruce Springsteen started to write this song in 1976. That was a troubled year for the singer. He sued his manager Mike Appel and Bruce wanted to work with Jon Landau. This went on for around 10 months. This was coming after 1975 which was huge in Springsteen’s life. He would be on the cover of Newsweek and Time at the same time. His Born To Run album blanketed rock at the time and he was hailed as the future of Rock and Roll.  But instead of capitalizing on his success and hitting the studio to record another album he put on a suit and went to court.

Springsteen did what a lot of artists at that time did…he signed a management contract on the hood of a car in a New Jersey parking lot, Springsteen’s contract allotted him 18¢ per album sold. Appel made a minimum royalty of 40¢ per record. On top of that, the contract called for Springsteen to record 10 albums for CBS but it only called for Springsteen to record five for Appel’s Laurel Canyon management and production company. It was a terrible contract and although Springsteen didn’t care about the money then…he was always broke because he was keeping less than 10 percent of his income.

Appel wanted to stop Landau from working with Bruce also…who had just helped Springsteen with Born To Run. When Appel started to tell Bruce what he could and could not do…that was it. Bruce sued Appel and they went to court. Two days after Springsteen filed suit against Appel for fraud, undue influence, and breach of trust, Appel responded by seeking a permanent injunction in New York State Supreme Court barring Springsteen and Landau from entering the recording studio together. He stated that only he and Springsteen would make a “winning combination.”

So long story short…he was barred from recording until this was settled. All he could do was tour…and tour he did. They ended up settling the suit. Appel gave up publishing rights on most of Springsteen’s music in exchange for $800,000, and he took a cut in production points from six to two. Bruce was free to record.

So this song was born in this chaos. It wasn’t completely finished but he could not record the song. The song lay dormant until Springsteen’s producer, Jimmy Iovine, convinced him to give a copy to Patti Smith, who eventually got around to filing in the verses and recording the song. Iovine was also producing Smith’s Easter album and convinced her to record it for the set.

Smith’s boyfriend at the time was Fred “Sonic” Smith and while waiting for him to call…she finished the verses in 1977. It makes sense because she used the longing for Smith for some of the verses like… Have I doubt when I’m alone
Love is a ring, the telephone.

The song appeared on Smith’s album called Easter. At first,. she didn’t want to use the song because she didn’t write all of it. Jimmy Iovine, her producer, along with bandmates convince Smith to record the song.

Fred Smith died of a heart attack in 1994. A year before 10,000 Maniacs recorded the song and it was a hit. The royalties from that song helped keep Smith above water and care for her two young children.

The Patti Smith version peaked at #13 on the Billboard 100, #13 in Canada, and #5 in the UK in 1978. The album Easter peaked at #20 on the Billboard Album Charts.

Stream Because the night - Patti Smith (vocal cover Jaheira88) by Jaheira88 | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Bruce Springsteen: “It was a love song and I really wasn’t writing them at the time. I wrote these very hidden love songs like For You, or Sandy, maybe even Thunder Road, but they were always coming from a different angle. My love songs were never straight out, they weren’t direct. That song needed directness and at the time I was uncomfortable with it. I was hunkered down in my samurai position. Darkness… was about stripping away everything – relationships, everything – and getting down to the core of who you were. So that song is the great missing song from Darkness On The Edge. I could not have finished it as good as she did. She was in the midst of her love affair with Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith and she had it all right there on her sleeve. She put it down in a way that was just quite wonderful.”

Patti Smith: “I could have never written a song like that. I’d never write a chorus like that.”

Because The Night

Take me now, baby, here as I am
Pull me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger, is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed

Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel when I’m in your hands
Take my hand, come undercover
They can’t hurt you now
Can’t hurt you now, can’t hurt you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

Have I doubt when I’m alone
Love is a ring, the telephone
Love is an angel disguised as lust
Here in our bed until the morning comes

Come on now, try and understand
The way I feel under your command
Take my hand as the sun descends
They can’t touch you now
Can’t touch you now, can’t touch you now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

With love we sleep
With doubt the vicious circle
Turns and burns
Without you, oh, I cannot live
Forgive, the yearning burning
I believe it’s time, too real to feel

So touch me now, touch me now, touch me now

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to us

Because tonight there are two lovers
If we believe, in the night we trust
Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love

Because the night belongs to lovers
Because the night belongs to love
‘Cause we believe tonight we’re lovers
‘Cause we believe, in the night we trust
Because the night belongs to lovers

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

59 thoughts on “Patti Smith – Because The Night ….Under The Covers Tuesday”

  1. Patti Smith owns this song. I like the intro to the Springsteen version, with the piano opening and the guitar slowly building, but once the singing starts, it is her song. The subtle change she makes in the chorus transforms it from one in which he seemed to have a hook but no lyrics, to something that moves the song forward. Springsteen just seems to sing the same line four times because he doesn’t have anything to say.

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    1. Thats a great way to describe it. What amazes me about Bruce is he would just give these songs away…thats how many quality songs he had in reserve…Patti Smith took it and ran with it.

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    2. I hear what you’re saying about the two versions, but I think there is power also in how Bruce repeats those lines. Two different interpretations. In any case, good to see the lyrics written out as I hadn’t really looked too close at them. “Love is a ring … of the telephone.” That’s just about perfect.

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    1. I remember that! Whether it was MTV or Friday Videos I don’t know…I didn’t hear Bruce’s version until his live album…so I may have heard this one first.

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      2. LOL… I thought I heard it from Bruces live album set he released….but this one could have been the one I heard first….

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  3. What a saga. Each time I hear about a young artist being exploited by a ‘manager’ or record company, I get angrier. The punishment isn’t quick enough, severe enough, or retroactive enough. It’s great that this song got to Patti and helped her. I loved it from the first time I heard her recording on the radio. I didn’t realize she helped finish the lyrics. She contributed some of the best lines, imo. 10km did a great job with the song too.

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    1. Yea it cost him at the time… all that time he could not record a thing. Patti took it and ran with it. She made it a better song. I was telling someone else…it’s amazing that he had enough songs in reserve just to give hit songs away.

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  4. It’s an amazing song and both the Patti and Bruce versions do it justice. I remember when the single came out that NYC WNEW-FM DJ Vince Scelsa played it six times in a row! I always felt though that Patti got too much credit for creating a song that is 99% Springsteen.

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    1. Mike I can’t believe Bruce had that many songs just sitting there and could give hit songs away. Fire, Because the Night, Light of the Day and so on.

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      1. I always loved the Pointer Sisters version of Fire. Everything about it works. From a woman’s viewpoint, it becomes a song of ambivalence. Sung by a man it sounds too much like a justification of rape. Elmer Fudd’s version (via Robin Williams) is pretty good.

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  5. That filled in a lot of gaps for me Max. It’s a great song and if not for serendipity we would not be talking about the song today. Or Patti for that matter. I realize her contribution as a pioneer of punk but time has been the test on her songwriting.

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    1. Randy, when I did a little research on her awhile back, I think she has drifted towards being more of an author and poet. She lucked out on getting this “castaway” from Bruce.

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  8. A fine song no matter who does it , it seems, but Patti’s does sound best to me. I didn’t know though that she contributed anything to the writing, good job on that Patti.

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    1. I have to give Springsteen a break here…because he never recorded a finished studio version I don’t think…so I’m not sure how he would sound in a studio. He did record a version of it but never for an album.

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  10. Springsteen is a great and Born To Run is epic, but to be frank I tended to prefer other people singing his stuff until the 80’s (see also Bob Dylan) and this is the classic example, Bruce could never have given it the emotion and conviction Patti Smith gives it. It’s a brilliant recording.

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    1. It changed the song no doubt… I’m odd… I do like Bruce and Bobs voice usually over the covers but not always… this one I do like Patti’s the best.

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  12. I’m glad to learn that the royalties from the 10.000 Maniacs cover helped Patti care for her children at the time. I never liked that it was a live version with heavy applause as the song began, as if it was THEIR song. It just rubbed me the wrong way even though I loved — and still love — 10,000 Maniacs.

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    1. I was lucky enough to see them in Nashville in the later part of the 80s. I see what you mean though about the live cut. I think it was off of their MTV unplugged.
      I do like their version of Peace Train.

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    1. I totally agree that Smith wins here. I don’t know a lot of the history between those two but I get from what I’ve read….they were very tight.

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  14. Patti’s is what I’m used to, but Bruce did it up right with his humongous band and stage presence (notice the pink light on him as he is singing — is that a nod to grrrl power?) I also went out to hear Natalie’s version which is also charming in its own way. It’s a kickass solid gold song and a testament to the greatness of Springsteens musical genius. Greedy producers who exploit newbies that want to breakthrough need to be lined up against the wall and shot imo. I understand all things are fair in an evil capitalistic society — did I just say that? — but to exploit art at any level is beyond unethical. I’m glad it was only a bump on the road for The Boss and a boon for Smith.

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    1. lol… Yes, but I’m glad they made up and were friends until Appel died. I guess Bruce saw that he believed in him when no one else did. If he had treated him fairly…he would have remained his manager. Bruce is a loyal guy.

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      2. Yea…It centered around Bruce’s new rock critic friend Jon Landau…Appel was jealous of him. I am glad it ended well for both.

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    1. Sorry for the delay Obbverse.
      One thing I don’t understand though. Lets take Appel for instance or the “manager” of Badfinger. If they would have treated them fairly in both cases… they would have made more money than they did.

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      1. I think, like all hucksters, they believe it’s best to grab what you can now, tomorrow they might see you as a shallow money-grabbing amoral assh- Appel, and where’s the money in that?

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  16. I didn’t know about Bruce’s problems in 1976. I saw Patti sing this live in Sydney 1998 opening for Dylan. I remember her getting heckled at some point, but she definitely gave as good as she got, which I admired a lot.
    Man, I wished Patti had Dylan’s lyrics in front of her when she did the Nobel acceptance song. She was killing it up to…that dreaded moment.
    I agree with you and others who prefer her performance of ‘Because the Night’ over Bruce’s.
    ‘So this song was born in this chaos’. A great line Max.

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    1. Thanks Matt….Oh cool you saw her! To be fair to Bruce…he never made a proper studio recording of it.

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  17. Great tune! In my case it was the opposite – I knew and had come to dig Patti Smith’s version before I ever heard Springsteen sing “Because the Night”. That was in the mid-’80s after I had gotten the excellent “Live 1975–85”, which finally introduced me to his music pre-“Born the the U.S.A.”

    I will admit the first time I listened to Springsteen’s version of the song on that album, I was somewhat underwhelmed – a similar experience I had with “Fire” where I had known the killer rendition by The Pointer Sisters. Nowadays, I like Springsteen’s versions of both tunes as much as the aforementioned renditions.

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    1. WOW Bruce…I had no idea she could sing like that…Thank you that was great. When I first saw you write this…I thought you were being funny…I thought she would punk it up… but she was singing it straight.

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  23. Pingback: Patti Smith – Because The Night ….Under The Covers Tuesday – Joe Stilez Music

  24. I bought this single when it was released. Patti Smith was generally seen at the time as an indie, streetwise punk poet from New York, and this song showcased her exceptional talents to a wider audience.

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