Posted on 11/21/2024 4:47:07 PM PST by nickcarraway
It was no instant success, but gradually, the group’s new marriage of pop and orchestral ingredients began to turn heads.
In the timeless flight of the Moody Blues, “Nights In White Satin” is such a classic that it’s strange to recount the slow, almost faltering progress of this epic ballad when it was first released.
Justin Hayward’s song, and its parent album, the Moodies’ career-changing Days Of Future Passed, were both released on November 10, 1967 — and for the first few weeks of their lives, the sum total of their UK chart presence was precisely nil.
But gradually, the group’s new marriage of pop and orchestral ingredients began to turn heads. With the additional attractions of Mike Pinder’s keyboard effects on the Mellotron, little-used in popular music to that point, and Ray Thomas’ flute, both the single and the album began to capture the imagination of both the public and the media.
“Satin” may have had an uncertain start, but few singles have gone on to such recurring and multi-faceted success, both in the UK and around the world. After attracting radio support, the single on Decca’s Deram label finally made the British Top 50 in the first week of 1968, some seven weeks after release.
It was the first chart appearance of the Moodies’ new line-up, retooled with the addition of Hayward and John Lodge. This was also the first time the group name had been on the UK singles list for more than two years, since “Everyday” limped to No.44.
Even then, “Satin” only just clambered onto the bottom rung of the Top 50, as The Beatles continued at No.1 into the new year with “Hello Goodbye.” The ballad then climbed to No.35, making less than spectacular progress over the coming weeks before coming to a halt at No.19 on the February 20 chart. It fared much better elsewhere, going all the way to No.1 in 1968 in Holland, and reaching the Top 10 in Austria, Belgium and Switzerland, and the Top 20 in Germany.
A continuing chart story
The initial UK activity was enough to kick-start Days Of Future Passed, which showed up on the bestsellers for the first time in late January 1968 and got as high as No.27 in both February and March. The album reappeared from time to time over the next few years, making its last showing in 1973. By then, with the Moodies established as a major album and touring force, “Nights In White Satin” had belatedly become a massive hit, reaching No.2 in Billboard and No.1 in the rival Cash Box countdown.
That transatlantic success, in turn, prompted the first reissue of “Satin” in the UK, where it charted anew and became a much bigger hit second time around. The song spent three weeks in the Top 10 in late 1972 and early 1973, landing at No.9. In 1979, it rose once again, in a new 12-week run that gave it another five weeks in the Top 20 and a No.9 peak.
This historic recording even managed one further chart week in 2010, prompted by a performance of the song by the eventual winner of that year’s X Factor series, Matt Cardle. Those satin sheets that inspired Justin Hayward were made of the most enduring material.
Letters I’ve written
Never meaning to send.
Probably one of the coolest rock bands
I always disliked that song, but Turn To Stone and Mr. Blue Sky are great!
I think your are confusing The Moody Blues and ELO. I don’t think they have anyone in common?
Yes both of them have a classical music element.
2nd worst song ever written….after McArthur Park.
Always loved this song.
But I thought it was Knights in White Satin. How in the world could a night be in white satin?
Bedsitter people
Look back and lament
Another day’s useless
Energy spent.
Were the bedsitters waiting for the knights?
Hold me closer (Tony Danza) was a sweet song.
He was one of the Friends, Rachel, Monica, Chandler and Tony.
Ahem those were ELO.
Days of Future Passed was written for listening on LSD.
Then it makes perfect sense.
We decide which is right and which is an illusion
Song after this is “I’d Like to Get To Know You”, by Spanky and our Gang.
Met a man with great potential back in the day, but after I got to know him, he was definitely not for me.
Moody Blues ping.
Nice video. Confirms that all British 1960s pop stars look alike.
But after I read what Jimmy Webb said about the song, I stopped hating it and liked it. He was dating this girl Susie (Linda Ronstadt's sister or sister-in-law?) and he would go with her to the park for lunch everyday. I can't tell you how much I hated it - until I read the story.
I also hated that song Rooster by Aline in Chains, who I didn't like anyway. But then I read it was about his father in Vietnam, and how they tried to kill him.
“2nd worst song ever written….after McArthur Park.”
Worse than Starship’s “We Built this City”?
or
Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love”. He is a man who will fight for your honor afterall.
The album is a masterpiece. Lyrically, artfully, it describes a man’s lifetime.
I’m not sure I understand. You met a man you thought might have potential for marriage, but he turned out not to be the right fit. That reminds and that reminds you what Elaine “Spanky” McFarlane was talking about in that song?
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