Lonely Night (Angel Face) Explained

Lonely Night (Angel Face)
Cover:Lonely_Night_-_Captain_&_Tennille.jpg
Alt:cover art
Caption:US single picture sleeve
Type:single
Artist:Captain & Tennille
Album:Song of Joy
B-Side:Smile for Me One More Time
Released:January 1976
Recorded:1975
Length:3:16
Label:A&M
Producer:Captain & Tennille
Prev Title:The Way I Want to Touch You
Prev Year:1975
Next Title:Shop Around
Next Year:1976

"Lonely Night (Angel Face)" is a song written by Neil Sedaka. The song was first recorded by Sedaka and appeared as a track on his 1975 studio album, The Hungry Years.The following year the song was made popular when covered by the pop music duo Captain & Tennille, who took their version to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background

In 1976, "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" was a hit single for Captain & Tennille, who had recorded another Sedaka song "Love Will Keep Us Together" a year earlier. Their version of "Lonely Night (Angel Face)" first hit the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on January 24, 1976, entering at number 69.[1] It rose to number 3 on the Hot 100 and number 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in March 1976.[2] On the Cashbox chart, it also reached number 1. The song became a Gold record, and Sedaka's biggest hit as a lyricist (aside from this and "That's When the Music Takes Me," Sedaka had generally only written the music to his songs, with Howard Greenfield—from whom Sedaka was estranged at the time—or Phil Cody writing the lyrics).

In Canada the song went to number 1 on the RPM National Top Singles Chart. It hit the pole position on April 17, 1976, and stayed atop the chart for two weeks before bowing out to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.[3] [4] It was their third of fourteen hit singles.

Reception

Billboard praised the "tight instrumentals."[5]

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1976)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] 9
Canada RPM Top Singles[7] 1
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[8] 1
New Zealand (RIANZ)[9] 10
US Billboard Hot 1003
US Billboard Easy Listening1
US Cash Box Top 100 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1976)Rank
Australia (Kent Music Report)83
Canada [10] 7
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[11] 39
U.S. Cashbox [12] 32
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening[13] 22

See also

Notes and References

  1. The Hot 100 – week of January 24, 1976 . . September 3, 2021.
  2. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Joel Whitburn . 2002 . Record Research . 45.
  3. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 2016-10-11.
  4. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 2016-10-11.
  5. News: Top Single Picks. Billboard. 2020-07-13. January 24, 1976. 78.
  6. Web site: National Top 100 Singles for 1976. . 131 . . December 27, 1976 . January 15, 2022 .
  7. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 1976-04-27 . 2018-08-02.
  8. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 1976-03-13 . 2018-08-02.
  9. Web site: NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart . Nztop40.co.nz . 1976-06-28 . 2016-10-11.
  10. Web site: Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977 . . . June 13, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160319222559/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5173a&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=u9874ano8k0c5b6bkp4r8qrbp3 . March 19, 2016 . dead .
  11. Web site: Top 100 Hits of 1976/Top 100 Songs of 1976 . Musicoutfitters.com . 2016-10-11.
  12. Web site: Top 100 Year End Charts: 1976 . . 2016-06-05 .
  13. http://www.45cat.com/45_list_view_record.php?li=2171 Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1976