Digital Video Singles • Classic Rock Videos

 A rare film of the Moody Blues performing Nights in White Satin is now available for purchase and download on the iTunes Store.  

The story behind the song itself if the stuff of legend.  The MOODY BLUES recording of “NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN” has the unique distinction of being the only song in music history to have made the US pop charts three different times in its original versionin 1967, 1972 and 1979.

When released in 1967, “Nights In White Satin” was not popular, mainly due to its length (7 min. 38 seconds). The song was re-released in 1972 after the success of longer-running dramatic songs, and became the Moody Blues’ biggest US hit (#2 on the Billboard Hot 100). It remained on the US Charts for over 2 years. In 1979, the song was released yet again and charted for a third time.

The MOODY BLUES started out as a rhythm and blues band from Birmingham in 1964. The original group was discovered by Brian Epstein and toured with the Beatles in 1965.

The band changed members in 1966. It placed an advertisement in The Melody Maker in 1967, looking for a new guitarist. Justin Hayward got the job became the lead vocalist and guitarist and changed the direction and the shape of the band.

The band also changed their musical direction in early 1966 when founding member Mike Pinder supplemented his piano with a Mellotron synthesizer, a keyboard apparatus that duplicated the sounds of violins and flute using a system of pre-recorded tapes to create a distinctive orchestral sound.

The Mellotron was forerunner of today’s modern electronic sampling keyboard. It was developed and manufactured by the Bradley Brothers at Streetly Electronics in Birmingham where Mike Pinder worked in the early 1960s.

In 1966, Decca Records became interested in the Moody Blues’ new “progressive” sound and proposed an experiment where the group would record an album of classical compositions supported by a full symphony orchestra.

The record company intended to use the album as a means of demonstrating their new stereo recording process. Decca had originally wanted the Moody Blues to record a new version of Dvoøák’s spell? “New World Symphony”, but the Moody Blues persuaded them to let them use their own songs.

This ended up as a concept album based around different times of day entitled Days Of Future Passed. “Nights In White Satin” was last on the album because it represented nighttime.

Justin Hayward wrote “Nights In White Satin” when he was 19 and sitting on his bed one night. Hayward said this song was about the end of one great love affair and the beginning of another. He said he wrote the song in only 4 minutes, and came up with the title after a friend gave him a gift of white satin bedsheets.

This rare, live color version of “Nights In White Satin” was recorded by French TV in December, 1967, as the Moody Blues were preparing for a performance at the Speakeasy Club in London.

The Speakeasy Club, with its Al Capone gangster décor, was a late-night haunt for the London music industry from 1966 to the late 1970s. Members of The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton regularly appeared and jammed on the stage. Elton John, Bob Marley and Yes were launched at the ‘Speak’.

“Nights In White Satin” was touted as the original song choice for the opening of Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, before “The End” by The Doors was chosen.

The Moody Blues have toured longer than almost any other band in the history of music. They have produced 26 albums (18 Platinum) and sold more than 55 million records.

“NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN”

WRITTEN BY JUSTIN HAYWARD

BAND:

JUSTIN HAYWARD: VOCALS

JOHN LODGE: BASS GUITAR

MIKE PINDAR: PIANO/MELLOTRON

RAY THOMAS: FLUTE

GRAEME EDGE: DRUMS