Open All Night (song)

"Open All Night"
Single by Bruce Springsteen
from the album Nebraska
B-side"The Big Payback"
ReleasedNovember 1982[1]
RecordedJune 23, 1982
GenreFolk rock, rock and roll
Length2:58
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen singles chronology
"Atlantic City"
(1982) 		"Open All Night"
(1982) 		"Dancing in the Dark"
(1984)

"Open All Night" is a song written and recorded by rock musician Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen's 1982 solo album Nebraska.

History

Of the 10 songs on Nebraska, "Open All Night" is the only one to feature an electric guitar. With a Chuck Berry-style guitar riff, the song tells the story of an unnamed narrator's all-night drive across industrial New Jersey to reach his girl, Wanda, whom he met when she was a waitress at the Route 60 Bob's Big Boy.

"Open All Night" was released as a single in the UK, backed by "The Big Payback",[2] but did not chart. It was also released as a single in The Netherlands and Spain.[2] Though never released as a single in the United States,[2] it garnered enough album oriented rock airplay to reach #22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Springsteen performed this song infrequently until the Sessions Band Tour of 2006, when it was transformed into an eight-minute "show-stopping rave-up" whose already surreal lyrics[3] were made more strange by being rapped against a big band swing arrangement and a pseudo-Andrews Sisters female backing vocal trio.[4][5][6] This is the version that appears on the Live in Dublin CD and DVD.

Jay Farrar of Son Volt recorded a version which was released in 2005 on A Retrospective: 1995–2000.

In November 2014 Pearl Jam covered the song in Lincoln, Nebraska.[7]

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[8]

References

  1. ^ "Great Rock Discography". p. 773.
  2. ^ a b c "Discography: Vinyl 7 in.: Alphab. sort". Killing Floor. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
  3. ^ Jeff Vrabel (2006-05-31). "Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band". PopMatters. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  4. ^ Melissa Block (2006-04-26). "Springsteen Speaks: The Music of Pete Seeger". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  5. ^ Greg Kot (2006-06-16). "The Boss pulls off celebrating Seeger". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original (fee required) on January 31, 2013. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
  6. ^ Glenn Gamboa (2006-06-24). "Boss' folksy party is a hit-and-miss affair". Newsday. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013.
  7. ^ "Pearl Jam "Open All Night" Live in Lincoln Nebraska 10-9-2014". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2016-11-05.
  8. ^ Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-78472-649-2.