Them – Here Comes The Night

Van The Man Morrison sounds great on this one.  This song was written by Bert Berns and was released as a single in 1965 with “All For Myself” as the B-side. He sings this with a pop voice at the beginning of the skipping beat and then comes in with that edgy voice only he can give you.

It was the biggest hit for Them. Bert would later sign Van Morrison to a solo contract with Bang Records. Here Comes The Night was their biggest hit. Gloria is probably the most famous song they did but they had many more. I discovered them when I was 18 and I had to import an album from the UK to get an album. It’s not like it is now…you had to work for it. Their other songs include Mystic Eyes, Baby Please Don’t Go, and others.

Here Comes The Night peaked at #24 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #8 in Canada in 1965. The song was originally released by LuLu in 1964 but only charted at #50 in the UK and didn’t chart in America.

In the 1980s unlike today I had to order a UK import album to get this song. Van went on to bigger and better things but Them produced some memorable songs. They are criminally overlooked. They had an edge and bite…up there with the Stones and Animals. Van’s voice on this one is spot on.

Bert Berns (born Bert Russell) knew how to write a hit. Berns was a talented songwriter and producer who died at age 38 of a fatal heart attack in 1967. Among his writing credits are Twist And Shout, Hang On Sloopy, Piece Of My Heart, and Tell Him. His production credits include Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and Under The Boardwalk by The Drifters.

Here Comes the Night

Whoa, here it comes
Here comes the night
Here comes the night
Whoa whoa whoa yeah

I could see right out my window
Walkin’ down the street, my girl
With another guy

His arm around her
Like it used to be with me
Whoa, it makes me want to die
Yeah yeah yeah

Well, here it comes
Here comes the night
Here comes the night
Whoa whoa whoa whoa yeah

There they go
It’s funny how they look so good together
Wonder what is wrong with me
Why can’t I, accept the fact she’s chosen him
And simply let them be
Whoa whoa whoa

Well, here it comes
Here comes the night
Here comes the night
Whoa whoa whoa yeah

She’s with him he’s turning down the lights
And now he’s holding her
The way I used to do

I could see, her closing her eyes
And tellin’ him lies
Exactly like she told me, too
Yeah yeah yeah

Well, here it comes
Here comes the night
The long, the long and lonely night
Night, night, night, night, night, night

Whoa, here comes the night

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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.

41 thoughts on “Them – Here Comes The Night”

  3. One of those instantly-recognizable hooks. If you don’t know it in 5 notes or fewer, you probably don’t know it. I’d forgotten that it was the Shadows of Knight cover of “Gloria” that was the big it in the US, not Them’s original.

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    1. I found them when I was 18 in 1985 while discovering Van Morrison… a lot of good music with them. I still have my import album I ordered

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    1. This hit over here…if they would have stayed together…they would have made some waves. Van being in a band…was destined not to last though.

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  5. I thought I was hearing Mick Jagger. Gee whiz.
    I really like this from you:
    ‘I discovered them when I was 18 and I had to import an album from the UK to get an album. It’s not like it is now…you had to work for it.’
    I remember doing all that as well on Ebay or friends from ‘Expecting Rain’ would send me stuff and vice a versa etc. You had to go the long yards to get stuff. Now the Big Corps own nearly all of it and mostly easily accessible by legal or not – so means.

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    1. Yea…youtube and you can listen to it anyway if you want to hear anything…good for sampling things. Being in IT we shared music and movies with each other….that is why I have a huge collection.

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    1. Yes he was a very good songwriter…I told someone yesterday…if he wouldn’t have died so young…Van’s career would probably have been different.

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  7. Wow, great post. I was listening to Van Morrison last week on Spotify. One of their best songs..hell they were all good. Great musicianship too. Dig the Vox organ in the background and the Super Beatle amps. I used a Vox AC-30 for a while before crawling back to a Fender amp. Our rhythm player had a Vox guitar that was darn good. It was a semi-hollow body copy of the Gibson 335. Van’s music has held up well over the decades.

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    1. I have a small Vox practice amp that I use to record some. I would love to have an AC-30. Mine has a lovely smooth tone…but I do love the Fender Twins also.
      Yes Van’s music is timeless…and I like a lot of his Them stuff….raw and ready.

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      1. My AC 30 had electronic problems and Guitar Center couldn’t keep it running, so I sold it to them and bought a Fender Twin Reverb. Back in the day, our rhythm guitar player and organist used Vox Viscount amps and they sounded great. 2-12 speakers with a built in rollers and chrome bars.

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      3. They were good amps. They also had a backup Fender in case the Vox went down, which they tended to do back then. Bad capacitors or something like that. Organ player used a Farfisa with an electric piano setting on top, sort of like Ray Manzarek used.

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      4. The Fenders I’m sure were reliable since there are so many that are still around from that era.

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  8. Great tune Max and Them had it going for a while. I discovered them retroactively via becoming a Van Fan back in the late 70’s. Things didn’t exactly work out very well with Burt and Van, but you are so right Russell knew how to craft a tune.

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    1. Yes he knew how to write commercial songs. I’m veering off here so forgive me….but what if Bert would have lived? He had Van signed…I don’t see him giving a green light to Astral Weeks…it could have changed his career….I’m not saying that I’m glad the guy died…dont’ get me wrong…bu it would have changed a lot of things probably.

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      1. I guess we’ll never know, I’m not sure when they released the songs they did together but they are incredible. I’m not getting why Bert didn’t release the songs out right away. Could be as you said he liked the commercial songs and didn’t figure one of them was a hit single.
        Van wanted a solo album it seems they weren’t on the same page.

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      2. Two different minds… oh 1967 is when Van had Brown Eyed Girl… Astral Weeks came in 69… not exactly a commercial album but great!
        But like you said… we will never know.

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      3. Right sorry I was mis remembering, it was Van who wasn’t happy with how Bert released the album without his consent. As you said BEG came out in 67. For some reason I though there were song from those sessions that were held back and released later, but I thing I’m wrong on that one.

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      4. He did have an opus then…I call it that but it was called TB Sheets that was really long…so maybe Berns could bend a little. It sure wasn’t a single.

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      5. I checked by VM songs and “Chick-A-Boom” was not on that first album but was on the B side of of “Ro Ro Rosey”. Then I checked Wiki. That and the other songs they did together were released in 1991, which was the first time I heard Vans cover of “Chick-A-Boom” which I think is fantastic. So that’s what I was thinking as I had never heard that first album, just Brown Eyed Girl. Sorry I’m rambling on.

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      6. No you can NEVER ramble talking about Van! There is a song by Them at the time…that is great…it was one that they could not release as a single…it is called…Mighty Like A Rose…it’s risque…but I call it Brown Eyed Girls sister. If you get a chance check it out….I love it….I think it was written by Van though.
        I’m the one that drug us into this! LOL it’s my fault.

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      7. I’m totally into this, I had never heard that song, it’s great!! An original song he wrote I see. When I saw the title I thought Them had covered “Mighty Lak a Rose” which is an old old song that’s kinda racist I think. Maybe that’s were he got the title as it was sung by people like Bing Crosby.

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      8. I’m glad you liked it! I love the song…it’s so clear and just good. It wasn’t on their greatest hits package that was released in the 90s…I kept looking for it. I had it on my vinyl album I ordered in the 80s from the UK…
        That probably is where he got the title.

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  9. In the early seventies a friend of mine had a sister who was about ten years older. She let us play her old singles collection. This was one we discovered. Then David Bowie did it and we already knew it,outting us ahead of our peers

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  11. One that was a hit straight on hearing. I listened to the Lulu version and that is a real mix of good and bad- whoever was in the studio did not know what the hell he/she wanted IMO.
    And ‘Van, just part of the band?’ Hah!

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    1. The first time I heard this I knew it had to be a hit. The verses of this song is a little pop for Van but the real Van comes in on the Chorus.
      Some other commentor mentioned that Bowie did a cover of it…I didn’t know that.
      Van doesn’t play well with others…at ALL.

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    1. Wow…I only heard it on a documentary back then…enough of it to know I wanted it. I don’t believe I ever heard it on radio.
      Back then he sounded like Mick did in a way…and a lot of those garage bands.

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  14. Pingback: Them – Here Comes The Night – MobsterTiger

  15. My foggy memory says that the band on this is studio players, not Them. Just Van and a bunch of studio cats put together by the Bang people.

    My foggy memory says that Berns was somehow connected to the Mafia. But like I said, foggy memory.

    Yes, Bang Records released an album with T B Sheets on it. But this was long after Morrison was on WB and Moondance.

    I grew up in Los Angeles. Them had two hit singles, Here Comes The Night and Gloria. LA radio did not play The Shadows of Night. They played the hell out of Here Comes The Night and Gloria. I loved it.

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    1. “My foggy memory” is right. Them had three hits on the radio, and I loved all three. The third, of course, was Baby Please Don’t Go. I love the guitar work on it.

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