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Midnight Blue (Melissa Manchester song)

December 28, 2022

"Midnight Blue" is a song by American singer and songwriter Melissa Manchester, written by herself alongside Carole Bayer Sager and produced by Vini Poncia with an executive production by Richard Perry. It was released in April 1975 as the first single from Manchester's third studio album, Melissa (1975).

"Midnight Blue"
Single by Melissa Manchester
from the album Melissa
B-side"I Got Eyes"
ReleasedApril 1975 (1975-04)
Recorded1974; Sunset Sound Recorders (Los Angeles), A & R Recording (New York City)
GenreSoft rock
Length3:25 (single version) 3:55 (album version)
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Melissa Manchester singles chronology
"O Heaven (How You've Changed to Me)"
(1974) 		"Midnight Blue"
(1975) 		"Just Too Many People"
(1975)
Official music video
"Midnight Blue" on YouTube

The song was described by Billboard magazine as "a classically elegant quiet ballad about a pair of longtime lovers putting aside their current aggravations until the dawn in order to try making it one more time in memory of all their old times together".[1]

In the United States, the single became her first top ten entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number six. Additionally, it peaked at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Background

The song had been written by Manchester in 1973 as her first collaboration with Carole Bayer Sager, who would be Manchester's regular lyricist over the next five years; Manchester would recall: "the songs that I wrote with Carole... all came out of conversations. Therefore the tone of the songs was very conversational. The listener always feels like they are in the moment when that first line is uttered."[2] According to Manchester the genesis of "Midnight Blue" was a conversation she and Bayer Sager "had about our young husbands, and how as young women we didn't know how to get through the hard times that every relationship has"; the song was essentially finished but still lacking a title when either Manchester or Bayer Sager said: "Midnight Blue" which Manchester opines "was the perfect fit for the [song's] overall feeling". [3]

After meeting Manchester backstage after Bette Midler's Carnegie Hall concert of 23 June 1972 Bayer Sager suggested she and Manchester write a song to cut as a demo,[4] the result being "Midnight Blue".

Although Manchester's first two album releases, Home to Myself and Bright Eyes in respectively 1973 and 1974, would overall feature eight songs she had co-written with Bayer Sager, Manchester herself would not record "Midnight Blue" until 1975. The demo of "Midnight Blue" was submitted by Sager and Manchester to producer Vini Poncia in hopes of having his purported client Dionne Warwick record the song:[5] instead the demo convinced Poncia to record the singer of the demo who was Manchester herself. Poncia waited for almost two years - allowing Manchester to fulfill her obligations to the producers of her two Bell Records albums — before approaching Manchester with regard to producing her.[6]

In the interim Manchester had personally pitched "Midnight Blue" to Dusty Springfield according to Springfield's friend Sue Cameron who recalls Manchester visiting Springfield's Laurel Canyon home and playing Springfield the demo of "Midnight Blue" - Cameron (quote): "She told Melissa no. Melissa leaves the house. I went: 'Are you crazy?'"[7]

An alternate background scenario for Manchester's recording "Midnight Blue" is related by Carole Bayer Sager in her autobiography: according to Bayer Sager she "pretty much stalked" Richard Perry to "get him to listen to our song. Finally after I cornered him at an industry party he agreed to listen to [the] demo [of 'Midnight Blue']." Bayer Sager played the demo for Perry at his Manhattan hotel suite, first telling him: "The girl I wrote the song with is singing here and she wants to record it... and I was hoping if you liked it maybe you'd produce it." Bayer Sager recalls that after hearing the demo Perry told her: "This song could be a big hit. I have a young producer who works for me: Vini Poncia, and I think he could make a really good record with Melissa as the artist. I'd executive produce it." According to Bayer Sager, Perry himself played the completed track of "Midnight Blue" for Arista Records president Clive Davis [8] who greenlit Poncia producing Manchester's album Melissa from which "Midnight Blue" was issued as lead single in May 1975 (the single edit trimmed 29 seconds off the album track's outro).

On the original track listing for the album Melissa the track's title is spelled "Midnite Blue", a spelling which was retained for the track's single release in Australia.

Personnel

Impact

In 2012 Manchester would recall promoting "Midnight Blue": "I [had been] an album artist [with no cause] to worry about a single. Suddenly, Bell Records was absorbed into Arista Records [whose president] Clive Davis...spoke of things like singles success. [For] 'Midnight Blue' we did a really vigorous tour of radio stations and secondary markets"[9] - "I crisscrossed the country to break the song on college radio stations, which were very important at the time. It was right before radio went into automated playlists. Music directors and disc jockeys still had pull. Right after 'Midnight Blue', everything changed" [10] - "We traveled thousands of miles shaking hands and playing: when [the song] finally got from the east coast to the west coast it was so huge...I [will] never forget that first experience of playing the intro to 'Midnight Blue' [to have] people started cheering....That was the power of radio."[9]

"Midnight Blue" debuted at #90 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine dated 10 May 1975: the same issue of Billboard showed the track ranked at #22 on the magazine's Easy Listening chart where "Midnight Blue" was in its fourth week on the Easy Listening Top 50. In its sixth week on the Billboard Hot 100, "Midnight Blue" entered the Top 40 at #40 on the chart dated 14 June 1975, with the track ranked at #2 on that week's Billboard Easy Listening chart: "Midnight Blue" would spend the weeks of 21–28 June at #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart - eventually being cited as the #1 Easy Listening hit of the year 1975[11] - while on the Hot 100 the track would ascend to a peak of #6 (8 August 1975).[12]

The first of Manchester's fifteen Hot 100 singles, "Midnight Blue" would be the last song composed by Manchester herself to afford her a Top 20 hit as only the second and third of her seven Top 40 hits were self-penned songs neither of which enjoyed the success level of "Midnight Blue" having respective Hot 100 peaks of #30 ("Just Too Many People") and #27 ("Just You & I"): however Manchester would be returned to the Top Ten twice by "outside material" (see "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "You Should Hear How She Talks About You").

A snippet from Manchester's recording of "Midnight Blue" was one of twelve current or recent hits whose lyrics were "borrowed" to provide responses to a "roving reporter" on the scene of a shark attack played by Dickie Goodman on his novelty hit Mr. Jaws which became a Top Ten hit in the autumn of 1975.

Manchester's "Midnight Blue" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1978 film Ice Castles - for which Manchester sang the theme - and also the 2010 film Dirty Girl in which several of Manchester's songs are heard (Manchester has a cameo in the latter film but not as herself).

In October 2020, a re-envisioned version of "Midnight Blue" was released in support of World Singing Day (3rd Sunday in October)[13] The official music video shows Manchester in a new performance of the song, with a backdrop of images of her stage performances of the song over the years.[14]

Charts

Other versions

The song has also been recorded by Shirley Bassey, Johnny Mathis, Arthur Prysock, Vanessa Williams and Viola Wills. An Italian rendering, "E L'Amore Che Muore", was recorded by Wess & Dori Ghezzi for their 1975 album Terzo Album and was issued as a single.

In May 1976, it was recorded and released as a single via LS Records by Cristy Lane.[25] In 1985, a music video was later made for the song.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ "New on the Charts" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 87, no. 20. May 17, 1975. p. 28. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  2. ^ "Interview : She knows who she is: an interview with Melissa Manchester". OutlookColumbus.com. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  3. ^ Canfield, Jack; Hansen, Mark Victor; Geffen, Jo-Ann (2009). Chicken Soup For the Soul: the story behind the song. Lakeland FL: Pneuma Books. p. 224. ISBN 978-1935096405.
  4. ^ "Commercial is Not a Dirty Word Anymore" (Newspaper Enterprise Assoc.), Sarasota Journal, 10 March 1976, p. 8D.
  5. ^ Hillel Italie (Associated Press), "Manchester Back Up to Standards", Wilmington Star-News, p. 3D.
  6. ^ Robin Welles (Copley News Service), "Melissa Not Blue Over Last Album", Observer-Reporter, 7 January 1976, p. B-9.
  7. ^ Bartlett, Karen (2015). Dusty: an intimate portrait of a musical legend. London: The Robson Press. ISBN 9781849548762.
  8. ^ Bayer Sager, Carole (2016). They're Playing Our Song: a memoir (ebook ed.). NYC: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781501153266.
  9. ^ a b "Melissa Manchester: Think of her as a friend". PopEntertainment.com. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Interview: Melissa Manchester – The Journey of an Artist". BlogCritics.org. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 153.
  12. ^ "Hot 100", Billboard, August 9, 1975.
  13. ^ "World Singing Day - About". Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  14. ^ "MIDNIGHT BLUE (Melissa Manchester OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) RE:VIEW 2020". Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  15. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 3988." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  16. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4019a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  17. ^ "Melissa Manchester Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  18. ^ "Melissa Manchester Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  19. ^ . Cash Box. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  20. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 6480." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  21. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4057a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  22. ^ "1975 Year-End Charts – Adult Contemporary Songs". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  23. ^ "1975 Year-End Charts – Hot 100 Songs". Billboard. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  24. ^ . Cash Box. December 27, 1975. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  25. ^ Lane, Cristy (June 1976). ""Midnight Blue"/"The Feeling of Love" (7" vinyl single)". LS Records. IRDA-068.
  26. ^ Morris, Edward (March 2, 1985). "Uncoventional Push for Cristy Lane". Billboard: 53. Retrieved 8 May 2021.

External links

  • Melissa Manchester - Midnight Blue on YouTube

December 28, 2022
midnight, blue, melissa, manchester, song, midnight, blue, song, american, singer, songwriter, melissa, manchester, written, herself, alongside, carole, bayer, sager, produced, vini, poncia, with, executive, production, richard, perry, released, april, 1975, f. Midnight Blue is a song by American singer and songwriter Melissa Manchester written by herself alongside Carole Bayer Sager and produced by Vini Poncia with an executive production by Richard Perry It was released in April 1975 as the first single from Manchester s third studio album Melissa 1975 Midnight Blue Single by Melissa Manchesterfrom the album MelissaB side I Got Eyes ReleasedApril 1975 1975 04 Recorded1974 Sunset Sound Recorders Los Angeles A amp R Recording New York City GenreSoft rockLength3 25 single version 3 55 album version LabelAristaSongwriter s Melissa Manchester Carole Bayer SagerProducer s Vini Poncia Richard Perry exec Melissa Manchester singles chronology O Heaven How You ve Changed to Me 1974 Midnight Blue 1975 Just Too Many People 1975 Official music video Midnight Blue on YouTubeThe song was described by Billboard magazine as a classically elegant quiet ballad about a pair of longtime lovers putting aside their current aggravations until the dawn in order to try making it one more time in memory of all their old times together 1 In the United States the single became her first top ten entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart peaking at number six Additionally it peaked at number one on the Adult Contemporary chart Contents 1 Background 2 Personnel 3 Impact 4 Charts 4 1 Weekly charts 4 2 Year end charts 5 Other versions 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksBackground EditThe song had been written by Manchester in 1973 as her first collaboration with Carole Bayer Sager who would be Manchester s regular lyricist over the next five years Manchester would recall the songs that I wrote with Carole all came out of conversations Therefore the tone of the songs was very conversational The listener always feels like they are in the moment when that first line is uttered 2 According to Manchester the genesis of Midnight Blue was a conversation she and Bayer Sager had about our young husbands and how as young women we didn t know how to get through the hard times that every relationship has the song was essentially finished but still lacking a title when either Manchester or Bayer Sager said Midnight Blue which Manchester opines was the perfect fit for the song s overall feeling 3 After meeting Manchester backstage after Bette Midler s Carnegie Hall concert of 23 June 1972 Bayer Sager suggested she and Manchester write a song to cut as a demo 4 the result being Midnight Blue Although Manchester s first two album releases Home to Myself and Bright Eyes in respectively 1973 and 1974 would overall feature eight songs she had co written with Bayer Sager Manchester herself would not record Midnight Blue until 1975 The demo of Midnight Blue was submitted by Sager and Manchester to producer Vini Poncia in hopes of having his purported client Dionne Warwick record the song 5 instead the demo convinced Poncia to record the singer of the demo who was Manchester herself Poncia waited for almost two years allowing Manchester to fulfill her obligations to the producers of her two Bell Records albums before approaching Manchester with regard to producing her 6 In the interim Manchester had personally pitched Midnight Blue to Dusty Springfield according to Springfield s friend Sue Cameron who recalls Manchester visiting Springfield s Laurel Canyon home and playing Springfield the demo of Midnight Blue Cameron quote She told Melissa no Melissa leaves the house I went Are you crazy 7 An alternate background scenario for Manchester s recording Midnight Blue is related by Carole Bayer Sager in her autobiography according to Bayer Sager she pretty much stalked Richard Perry to get him to listen to our song Finally after I cornered him at an industry party he agreed to listen to the demo of Midnight Blue Bayer Sager played the demo for Perry at his Manhattan hotel suite first telling him The girl I wrote the song with is singing here and she wants to record it and I was hoping if you liked it maybe you d produce it Bayer Sager recalls that after hearing the demo Perry told her This song could be a big hit I have a young producer who works for me Vini Poncia and I think he could make a really good record with Melissa as the artist I d executive produce it According to Bayer Sager Perry himself played the completed track of Midnight Blue for Arista Records president Clive Davis 8 who greenlit Poncia producing Manchester s album Melissa from which Midnight Blue was issued as lead single in May 1975 the single edit trimmed 29 seconds off the album track s outro On the original track listing for the album Melissa the track s title is spelled Midnite Blue a spelling which was retained for the track s single release in Australia Personnel EditMelissa Manchester piano vocals Vini Poncia backing vocals David Wolfert acoustic guitar electric guitar Cooker Lo Presti bass James Newton Howard electric piano Kirk Bruner drums Trevor Lawrence strings arrangementImpact EditIn 2012 Manchester would recall promoting Midnight Blue I had been an album artist with no cause to worry about a single Suddenly Bell Records was absorbed into Arista Records whose president Clive Davis spoke of things like singles success For Midnight Blue we did a really vigorous tour of radio stations and secondary markets 9 I crisscrossed the country to break the song on college radio stations which were very important at the time It was right before radio went into automated playlists Music directors and disc jockeys still had pull Right after Midnight Blue everything changed 10 We traveled thousands of miles shaking hands and playing when the song finally got from the east coast to the west coast it was so huge I will never forget that first experience of playing the intro to Midnight Blue to have people started cheering That was the power of radio 9 Midnight Blue debuted at 90 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine dated 10 May 1975 the same issue of Billboard showed the track ranked at 22 on the magazine s Easy Listening chart where Midnight Blue was in its fourth week on the Easy Listening Top 50 In its sixth week on the Billboard Hot 100 Midnight Blue entered the Top 40 at 40 on the chart dated 14 June 1975 with the track ranked at 2 on that week s Billboard Easy Listening chart Midnight Blue would spend the weeks of 21 28 June at 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart eventually being cited as the 1 Easy Listening hit of the year 1975 11 while on the Hot 100 the track would ascend to a peak of 6 8 August 1975 12 The first of Manchester s fifteen Hot 100 singles Midnight Blue would be the last song composed by Manchester herself to afford her a Top 20 hit as only the second and third of her seven Top 40 hits were self penned songs neither of which enjoyed the success level of Midnight Blue having respective Hot 100 peaks of 30 Just Too Many People and 27 Just You amp I however Manchester would be returned to the Top Ten twice by outside material see Don t Cry Out Loud and You Should Hear How She Talks About You A snippet from Manchester s recording of Midnight Blue was one of twelve current or recent hits whose lyrics were borrowed to provide responses to a roving reporter on the scene of a shark attack played by Dickie Goodman on his novelty hit Mr Jaws which became a Top Ten hit in the autumn of 1975 Manchester s Midnight Blue was featured on the soundtrack of the 1978 film Ice Castles for which Manchester sang the theme and also the 2010 film Dirty Girl in which several of Manchester s songs are heard Manchester has a cameo in the latter film but not as herself In October 2020 a re envisioned version of Midnight Blue was released in support of World Singing Day 3rd Sunday in October 13 The official music video shows Manchester in a new performance of the song with a backdrop of images of her stage performances of the song over the years 14 Charts EditWeekly charts Edit Chart 1975 PeakpositionAustralia Kent Music Report 78Canada Adult Contemporary RPM 15 1Canada Top Singles RPM 16 5US Adult Contemporary Billboard 17 1US Billboard Hot 100 18 6US Cash Box Top Singles 19 7 Year end charts Edit Chart 1975 PositionCanada Adult Contemporary RPM 20 12Canada Top Singles RPM 21 48US Adult Contemporary Billboard 22 1US Billboard Hot 100 23 55US Cash Box Top Singles 24 59Other versions EditThe song has also been recorded by Shirley Bassey Johnny Mathis Arthur Prysock Vanessa Williams and Viola Wills An Italian rendering E L Amore Che Muore was recorded by Wess amp Dori Ghezzi for their 1975 album Terzo Album and was issued as a single In May 1976 it was recorded and released as a single via LS Records by Cristy Lane 25 In 1985 a music video was later made for the song 26 See also EditList of number one adult contemporary singles of 1975 U S References Edit New on the Charts PDF Billboard Vol 87 no 20 May 17 1975 p 28 Retrieved November 13 2019 Interview She knows who she is an interview with Melissa Manchester OutlookColumbus com Retrieved 9 November 2015 Canfield Jack Hansen Mark Victor Geffen Jo Ann 2009 Chicken Soup For the Soul the story behind the song Lakeland FL Pneuma Books p 224 ISBN 978 1935096405 Commercial is Not a Dirty Word Anymore Newspaper Enterprise Assoc Sarasota Journal 10 March 1976 p 8D Hillel Italie Associated Press Manchester Back Up to Standards Wilmington Star News p 3D Robin Welles Copley News Service Melissa Not Blue Over Last Album Observer Reporter 7 January 1976 p B 9 Bartlett Karen 2015 Dusty an intimate portrait of a musical legend London The Robson Press ISBN 9781849548762 Bayer Sager Carole 2016 They re Playing Our Song a memoir ebook ed NYC Simon amp Schuster ISBN 9781501153266 a b Melissa Manchester Think of her as a friend PopEntertainment com Retrieved 12 November 2015 Interview Melissa Manchester The Journey of an Artist BlogCritics org Retrieved 12 November 2015 Whitburn Joel 2002 Top Adult Contemporary 1961 2001 Record Research p 153 Hot 100 Billboard August 9 1975 World Singing Day About Retrieved 3 March 2021 MIDNIGHT BLUE Melissa Manchester OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO RE VIEW 2020 Retrieved 3 March 2021 Top RPM Adult Contemporary Issue 3988 RPM Library and Archives Canada Retrieved November 13 2019 Top RPM Singles Issue 4019a RPM Library and Archives Canada Retrieved November 13 2019 Melissa Manchester Chart History Adult Contemporary Billboard Retrieved November 13 2019 Melissa Manchester Chart History Hot 100 Billboard Retrieved November 13 2019 Cash Box Top 100 Singles week ending August 9 1975 Cash Box Archived from the original on September 15 2012 Retrieved November 13 2019 Top RPM Adult Contemporary Issue 6480 RPM Library and Archives Canada Retrieved November 13 2019 Top RPM Singles Issue 4057a RPM Library and Archives Canada Retrieved November 13 2019 1975 Year End Charts Adult Contemporary Songs Billboard Retrieved November 13 2019 1975 Year End Charts Hot 100 Songs Billboard Retrieved November 13 2019 Cash Box Year End Charts 1975 Cash Box December 27 1975 Archived from the original on September 20 2012 Retrieved November 13 2019 Lane Cristy June 1976 Midnight Blue The Feeling of Love 7 vinyl single LS Records IRDA 068 Morris Edward March 2 1985 Uncoventional Push for Cristy Lane Billboard 53 Retrieved 8 May 2021 External links EditMelissa Manchester Midnight Blue on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Midnight Blue Melissa Manchester song amp oldid 1093843781, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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