Open All Night (song)

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

"Open All Night"
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Nebraska
B-side"The Big Payback"
ReleasedNovember 1982[1]
RecordedJune 23, 1982
GenreFolk rock, rock and roll
Length2:58
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Atlantic City"
(1982)
"Open All Night"
(1982)
"Dancing in the Dark"
(1984)

"Open All Night" is a song written and recorded by rock musician Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska.

History[edit]

Of the 10 songs on Nebraska, "Open All Night" is the only one to feature an electric guitar. With a Chuck Berry-style guitar riff, the song tells the story of an unnamed narrator's all-night drive across industrial New Jersey to reach his girl, Wanda, whom he met when she was a waitress at the Route 60 Bob's Big Boy.

"Open All Night" was released as a single in the UK, backed by "The Big Payback",[2] but did not chart. It was also released as a single in The Netherlands and Spain.[2] Though never released as a single in the United States,[2] it garnered enough album oriented rock airplay to reach #22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Springsteen performed this song infrequently until the Sessions Band Tour of 2006, when it was transformed into an eight-minute "show-stopping rave-up" whose already surreal lyrics[3] were made more strange by being rapped against a big band swing arrangement and a pseudo-Andrews Sisters female backing vocal trio.[4][5][6] This is the version that appears on the Live in Dublin CD and DVD.

Jay Farrar of Son Volt recorded a version which was released in 2005 on A Retrospective: 1995–2000.

In November 2014 Pearl Jam covered the song in Lincoln, Nebraska.[7]

Personnel[edit]

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Great Rock Discography". p. 773.
  2. ^ a b c "Discography: Vinyl 7 in.: Alphab. sort". Killing Floor. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  3. ^ Jeff Vrabel (2006-05-31). "Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band". PopMatters. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  4. ^ Melissa Block (2006-04-26). "Springsteen Speaks: The Music of Pete Seeger". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  5. ^ Greg Kot (2006-06-16). "The Boss pulls off celebrating Seeger" (fee required). Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  6. ^ Glenn Gamboa (2006-06-24). "Boss' folksy party is a hit-and-miss affair". Newsday.
  7. ^ "Pearl Jam "Open All Night" Live in Lincoln Nebraska 10-9-2014". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  8. ^ Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-78472-649-2.