Princess of the Night

For the flower colloquially known as "Princess of the Night", see Epiphyllum oxypetalum. "Princess of the Night" is a single by British heavy metal band Saxon, featured as the opening track and single from their 1981 album Denim and Leather; the song was written as a group production of all five members of the band at the time: Peter "Biff" Byford, Steve Dawson, Pete Gill, Graham Oliver, and Paul Quinn. The lyrics of the song deal with the narrator's affinity of a steam locomotive of the LMS Princess Royal Class.

The single itself peaked in its popularity at 57 on the UK Singles Chart.

Background
Saxon are from Barnsley, an industrial town in north-central England with several railways. According to singer Biff Byford, Barnsley is famous for "bus scrapyards". In 1981, Byford said, "Princess of the Night is a song about a steam train that ends up on the scrapyard."

Later in 1981, Byford added, "Some time ago we used to park our van at Barry Island in Glamorgan. There's a huge compound there where they keep all the old steam trains that they don't use anymore. They're just left to rot and I suppose that upset us because they really were magnificent machines. Well you can't beat the days of steam can you?

"Anyway, late at night if I couldn't sleep I used to look out at those ghostly engines and imagine them painted up and back in their glory. It's my romantic side coming out again."

Personnel

 * Biff Byford – vocals
 * Paul Quinn – guitars (first guitar solo)
 * Graham Oliver – guitars (second guitar solo)
 * Steve Dawson – bass
 * Pete Gill – drums