Because The Night - Origin Explained - By Patti Herself!

[AskDaveLTC]

To those who recently wondered about the origin of Because The Night and what
did Bruce create and what  did Patti Smith create, here's what I sent
recently to a person who requested  the same on a babelogue post but still,
there
were questions - like prove  it! So, following all the detail below is where
you
can HEAR Patti  tell the story herself, exactly as relayed originally by me
but recapped  below:
-----------------------
Here's the story as I know it. It comes from piecing together stuff from
Bruce and Patti books. Bruce and Patti were both in the same recording studios
back then ('77 & '78) and Jimmy Iovine, who was the recording engineer for
Bruce on Darkness On The Edge of Town and was the producer on Patti's Easter
album, got the ball rolling by approaching Bruce to see if he had a song that
would be good for Patti as he was trying to get her a "hit." [That bit about
Iovine approaching Bruce for a Patti hit comes from a radio interview I have
from Jimmy Iovine, called "Rock Years '78" that was played in D.C. around New
Year's in 1980 where tells the story.]
Bruce offered Because The Night, which was a work in progress at that  point.
He had the music down but was still working on the words. The chorus was
pretty well set but the verses were in a state of flux. Bruce, in that period,
wrote the music first and the words second.
Patti, got his demo and then re-wrote most of the lyrics to suit her in
places. So, they didn't actually work on it together. Her lyrics have stayed
pretty constant over the years other than how she's played it musically, which
has had different styles. However, Bruce's lyrics would continue to evolve
over
the years but you can see the differences by comparing his differing lyrics
with  hers. Some lines between the two are the same. But you can clearly tell,
if you  know Pattibs writing style at all, what lines are hers. To this
date,
Brucebs  lyrics for this song have fluctuated greatly. Thus, I donbt even
know what they  are anymore when I sing it in concert at his shows nor at
Pattibs
shows, but  somehow it never seems to cause a problem. What a remarkable
song.
Patti did write her lyrics late one night in NYC (from a  Patti book) while
waiting for a phone call from Fred in Detroit that didn't come  until late in
the night. Thus, her line, "love is a ring, the telephone," she  specifically
said was her waiting for Fred's call. The rest of it was written  along the
same lines as she was waiting for his call that night.
You can compare the lyrics from her version to those listed for Bruce's
versions on KillingFloor.com at  http://www.brucespringsteen.it/Brucex.htm
----------------------------
Further,  at Michael Stipe's suggestion,  the version they did of BTN on the
Vote For Change Tour was mostly with Patti's  lyrics. Michael does her first
verse and Bruce does most of her second verse  which begins:
Have I doubt, when Ibm alone,
Love is a ring, the telephone,
Love is an angel, disguised as lust,
Here in our bed until the morning comes
As Michael Stipe relayed at the Cleveland VFC show before doing Final  Straw,
a song played first for Patti to which when Michael didnbt know what to
call
it, Patti suggested the title come from the phrase in a line of the song,  so
he named it Final Straw, that Patti had called him that day and thanked him
for something he did at the Philly VFC show, wished them luck, and, in typical
 Patti fashion, wanted to remind him that that day was Gandhibs  birthday.
Despite Patti's stamp on the VFC tour with doing mostly her version of  BTN,
and also doing her song, People Have The Power as the next to last group
finale at each of Bruce's VFC shows, Patti and Bruce did not reprise doing
Because The Night on that tour nor have they ever done it together since the
1st
and only time at CBGBs, on 11/30/77, when Bruce showed up for Patti's show and
they did Because The Night. I never checked to see whose lyrics they did that
night.
Well, inquiring minds wanted even more information than the above  about
Because The Night's origins and the role each played, so here it is, in
Patti's
own words that totally equals what I said above.
It's contained in Part 1 of a radio interview on The Globe, FM 94.7 in  the
D.C. area. The interview was conducted Cerphe, a longtime area DJ, who goes
back to WHFS and a radio interview he did with Bruce on 6/2/73 as detailed on
Brucebase:
02/06/73 - RADIO STATION WHFS-FM, BETHESDA, MD
INTERVIEW - SATIN DOLL / CIRCUS SONG / NEW YORK SONG / GROWIN' UP / MARY
QUEEN OF ARKANSAS
In-station interview conducted by Donald bCerpheb Colwell (a DJ who was
one
of Brucebs biggest early supporters) - plus Brucebs 3rd acoustic radio
performance. The above-mentioned 5-song setlist is believed to be the complete
show. The master tape is not circulating but a fan had the foresight to tape
the
 40-minute show from the radio although, unfortunately, the result seems to
have  been only fair sound quality. Two of the tracks, bNew York Songb and
b
Mary Queen  Of Arkansasb can be found as tracks 9 and 10 the CD bRADIO
WAVESb
(Great Dane).  The entire audio is available on the custom made CDR boot b
STRICTLY PROHIBITEDb.  This is Brucebs last known in-station musical
performance
until 09/03/74.
Cerphe also, by voice, is the one who intro Bruce on the Largo 8/15/78  DVD
and visually on the Largo 11/23/80 DVD. He had a long blonde ponytail then.
Well, just today on Cerphe's page of The Globe's website at
http://www.947theglobe.com/pages/264754.php
I found the following 2 part interview Cerphe did with Patti Smith in the
studio on 4/26/08, the day of her D.C. Film Fest premiere that night at the
Lincoln Theatre of the Sundance award winning documentary film on her by
Steven
Sebring, "Dream Of Life."
At about 12:30 of Part 1, Patti tells the story of how Because The Night
happened and  "straight from the  horse's mouth" as she says. That part runs
for
about 2 minutes. She even  mentions, verbatim, the "Love is a ring, the
telephone" line as coming to her  while waiting for Fred's phone call so many
hours
that night,"
Both parts total about 23 1/2 minutes. She also does a live version of  Wing
with her son Jackson on guitar. The interview can be downloaded as MP3s  from
the site so grab 'em kiddies!
Thanks Patti!bWe  can turn the earthbs revolutionb



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