Because the Night (Patti Smith Group cover)

I love this cover.Natalie has a beautiful and unique voice.

Bruce wrote the music and some of the lyrics. Most of the lyrics were written by Patti Smith while she was waiting for her husband to get home from work. Therefore, I would definitely not say this song is about blind passion, seeing how she was married to the guy she was planning on fucking.

Because The Night will forever link Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen and 10,000. Maniacs due to the roles they all played in giving the world the gift of this song. Springsteen collaborated with Patti Smith to write in the '70s and did contribute the bulk of the words and the music. But Patti Smith's powerful and soulful rendition defines and brings to life all that Springsteen created. And there is no denying that the 10,000 Maniacs version is what brought the song to millions who may have not been familiar with Patti Smith's genius. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is art: born of native creativity, breathe life through passionate championship, and ultimately the product of cooperation. This is what gives the human soul meaning; this is art. The song must be performed by a woman. How Bruce Springsteen could understand the heartfelt thoughts of so many women must be proof of Devine intervention. Yet it is through Patti Smith passionate performance that we don't hear the song, we feel it. A woman finds herself in the rapture of new love. The intro of the delicate unaccompanied piano/keyboard notes sets the tone of night, quiet, feminate describing a woman alone. She whimsical whispers "Take me now baby here as I am"; begging for relating she asks "hold me close and try to understand. She describes her the feeling within her "desire is hunger is the fire I breathe" finishing with "love is the banquet on which we feed". Passionate and intense it drives her to the telephone in the second verse. Let's not forget there were no cell phones, internet or social media when this was written. She's waiting for her man, for the one who lights her fire and drives her passion. She's shamelessly not afraid to admit what her normal mores would never express as she rationalizes to herself "Come on now try and understand, the way I feel under your command". This double entrendra not only eludes to the spell that love casts in the heat of passion but actually spells out the sexually explicit notion described as civilly as she can manage. She has fallen so head over heals in love she can't help herself from the expression of passion that like a drug she has to have. The Godmother of Punk Patti Smith electrifies us with a passion rousing rendition that moves everyone who can hear her - no doubt because Patti herself has felt this passion and relives it every time she sings this song. The chorus rings like an anthem, driving her across the natural boundaries of her passion. She has a reason that she'll shoutout. Why? "Because the Night, belongs to Lovers - Because the night belongs to us!" It builds to an amazing crescendo with "take me now! Take me now! TAKE ME NOW!". While not hard to understand the meaning, its impossible to deny the effect, importance or power. People who didn't listen, were afraid or brushed off punk rock missed a key point: those artists had something to say. While Because the Night is not shrouded in mystery, it is one of those gems that we must bow and thank 10,000 Maniacs for - as it was they who made this song popular in the early 1990s. Because then many people like me were drawn to explore and find Patti Smith as well as recognize Bruce Springsteen's role. But focusing again on Patti Smith - desire, love, wanting, passion, waiting - it's all very close to pain. This is what drives artists. This is what turns good into great. This is art.

this song is extra special 2 me because it reminds me of an amazing girl i met on holiday in spain

Bruce Springsteen wrote this... I hope he got his royalties! ;-)

It's obviously about blind passion.

Definitely about blind passion. Great song. Great lyrics. Great melody . . . and the great Natalie Merchant. Love it.

People say blind passion as if it's such a bad thing...

I disagree. Completely. I don't think that this song is about the blindly passionate. And those individuals that suggest so obviously have yet to feel this incredible emotion. Of the beginning of a love... that excitement of finding someone you connect so completely with. These lyrics... are... telling.

I do believe that Springsteen co-wrote this song with Patti Smith. This is a great cover by the "maniacs", but I also happen to love the original by Smith as well