Bring on the Night (song)

"Bring on the Night"

Single by The Police

from the album Reggatta de Blanc

B-side

"Visions of the Night"

Released

22 November 1979

Format

Vinyl record (7")

Recorded

1979

Genre

Length

4:15

A&M – 2218-S

Nigel Gray
The Police

The Police singles chronology

"Walking on the Moon"
(1979)

"Bring on the Night"
(1979)

"The Bed's Too Big Without You"
(1980)

Alternate cover
German cover

"Bring on the Night" is a song by English rock band The Police. Written by the band's bassist and vocalist Sting, the song appeared as the fourth track on the band's second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979).

Some of the lyrics of "Bring on the Night" were recycled from the song, Carrion Prince (O Ye of Little Hope), which was written by Sting for the band, Last Exit. The title Carrion Prince (O Ye of Little Hope) was taken from Ted Hughes's poem, King of Carrion, and is about Pontius Pilate; however, after reading The Executioner's Song, Sting felt that the words fitted Gary Gilmore's death wish, and says that since then, "I sing it with him in mind."

Another lyric from "Bring on the Night", "when the evening spreads itself against the sky," is taken from T. S. Eliot's poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, written in 1910-15. In Lyrics By Sting, Sting said of this, "What is it Eliot said? 'Bad poets borrow, good poets steal'?"

The song was only released as an album track in Britain, but in America, as well as Germany and France, the song was released as a single in November 1979. Backed with "Visions of the Night", the British B-side to "Walking on the Moon", in America (but with "Reggatta de Blanc" in Germany and "Roxanne" in France), the single managed to hit no. 6 in France. However, the song did not make it into the charts of US and Germany. The song was also released in a compilation album, The Police, as well as in live form on the album, Live!.

Greg Prato of AllMusic noted the song as being "much more sedate than [some songs on Outlandos d'Amour]."AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in his review of The Police, noted the song as a "second-tier classic."

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Wikipedia