User:FrostFairBlade/sandbox/In the Still of the Night (The Five Satins song)

Background

 * Parris said that the song was inspired by a girl named Marla, whom he had met and fell in love with at the Savin Rock Amusement Park in May 1954
 * Parris, who had enlisted in the United States Army at the time, wrote the song on a piano at the base in Philadelphia that he was stationed at
 * He claimed in Smithsonian that after getting engaged with her, Marla decided to leave him to rejoin her mother in California
 * Recorded in the basement of St. Bernadette Catholic Church in New Haven, Connecticut on February 19, 1956 with four Satins and four musicians
 * It was recorded when both Parris (tenor) and Satin baritone Al Denby had returned home from military leave; Jim Freeman and Ed Martin also sang bass and baritone, respectively
 * Church parishioner Vinny Mazzetta played saxophone on the recording
 * Mazzetta played a key part in convincing the church's pastor, Father Charles Hewett, to allow the Satins to record their songs there
 * Father Hewett also permitted the group to use the piano in the church for recording
 * He was joined by drummer Bobby Mapp and bassist Doug Murray; recollections differed on whether the piano was played by Jesse Murphy or Curley Glover
 * Multiple takes were performed: Mazzetta recalls Parris stating that the band performed about six takes; his recollection was that it took 12 takes
 * Originally titled "(I'll Remember) In the Still of the Nite", to differentiate it from "In the Still of the Night" by Cole Porter

Lyrics and music

 * Features two verses and a bridge
 * Lyrics revolve around the narrator's remembrance of holding his lover in his arms at night

Release and commercial performance

 * The song was originally relea sed as the B-side to "The Jones Girl"
 * The song charted on Billboard 's R&B lists on September 1, 1956
 * A Billboard article from January 1960 noted that the record has sold consistently since its 1956 release, mentioning that it has sold as many as 20,000 copies in one week since its debut

Critical reception

 * Billboard: "The Satins chant with warm expressiveness on a smoothly paced ballad with dramatic lyrics."
 * It was ranked no. 90 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"
 * As part of its "Songs of the Century" project in 2001, the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Scholastic listed the song at no. 100

Live performances and other versions

 * The song was covered by Boyz II Men and released as a single; it was part of the soundtrack for ABC miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992)
 * "In the Still of the Nite" was also recorded by the Beach Boys on their 1976 album 15 Big Ones. Lead vocals were by drummer Dennis Wilson.

In popular culture

 * Featured prominently in Martin Scorsese's film, The Irishman (2019)
 * Makes an appearance in Dirty Dancing (1987)
 * The song made an appearance in its entirety in David Cronenberg's psychological horror film Dead Ringers (1988)