I have been thinking about the name I chose for this blog, and decided to research it’s origins. I want to share that information with my blog readers as a matter of interest.

Let me first say, that I was inspired by the song “In the Midnight Hour”, so I’ll start with that reference. 

Wikipedia’s reference url on “In the Midnight Hour”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Midnight_Hour

For the Warren G album, see In the Mid-Nite Hour

“In the Midnight Hour” is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett. It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April of 1968. Pickett’s first hit on Atlantic Records, it reached #1 on the R&B charts and peaked at #20 on the pop charts.

The song has become a ’60s soul standard, and placed at #134 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, Wilson Pickett’s first of two entries on the list (the other being “Mustang Sally” at #434). It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Pickett’s only such entry.

The track has been covered by many artists, including the Grateful Dead (who often played it as a closer to their sets in 1966 and 1967), B.B. King, Chocolate Watchband, Razzy Bailey, Roxy Music, The Jam, Johnny Thunders, The Chambers Brothers, The Toasters, Buddy Guy, The Rock Bottom Remainders, Rock Nalle, The Commitments, Cross Country, and Guy Sebastian. On the night of Pickett’s death, Billy Joel and his band performed a rendition of this song in his honor.

Listen to the song at You Tube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3lv2PAwke8

And then there’s the “Extreme Mortman” blog. You have to check this out. It is an award winning blog with an interview featured on Fish Bowl DC.

http://www.extrememortman.com/bill-clinton/in-the-midnight-hour-america-cried-more-more-more/

 I couldn’t just paste these links on this most famous song, without including this link to Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6595979/in_the_midnight_hour

Wow! I didn’t realize what a famous song I had chosen for my theme. I just knew I was inspired.

“I’m gonna wait till the midnight hour till your love comes tumblin’ down…”

I guess I should paste the actual song lyrics. Here they are:

I’m gonna wait til the midnight hour
That’s when my love comes tumblin’ down
I’m gonna wait ’til the midnight hour
When there’s no one else around
I’m gonna take you girl and hold you
And do all the things I told you
In the midnight hour

Yes I am, oh, yes, I am

Verse 2:

I’m gonna wait ’til the stars come out
And see that twinkle in your eyes
I’m gonna wait ’til the midnight hour
That’s when my love begins to shine
You’re the only girl I know
That really loves me so
In the midnight hour
Oh, yeah, in the midnight hour

Instrumental:

[repeat verse 1]

Just you and I… oh, baby, hah!
Just you and I… nobody around, baby, just you and I
All right… you know what?
I’m gonna hold you in my arms…
Just you and I, oh yeah
In the midnight hour
Oh, baby, in the midnight hour [fade]

More tomorrow on my inspired theme for this blog…beyond the song and the singer. What was happening in our country in those days? We were definitely entering in the midnight hour.