Nightrider (song) should not be confused with Night Rider (Elvis Presley song).
Nightrider | |
Cover: | Nightrider single.jpg |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Electric Light Orchestra |
Album: | Face the Music |
A-Side: | Do Ya |
B-Side: | "Daybreaker" (Live) |
Released: | 19 March 1976 (UK) February 1977 (US) |
Recorded: | 1975 |
Studio: | Musicland, Munich, Germany |
Genre: | Art rock |
Length: | 4:25 (Album version) 3:45 (UK single edit) |
Label: | Jet (UK) Jet/United Artists (US) |
Producer: | Jeff Lynne |
Prev Title: | Strange Magic |
Prev Year: | 1976 |
Next Title: | Livin' Thing |
Next Year: | 1976 |
"Nightrider" is a song from Electric Light Orchestra's (ELO) album Face the Music.
The song's title is a tip of the hat to Lynne's first major band, The Nightriders. It was released in 1976 as the third single from the album in the United Kingdom. The B-side on the single was a live version of "Daybreaker" taken from the 1974 live album The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach.[1] Despite ELO's rising popularity, and the band playing the song on Top of the Pops on 29 April 1976, the song failed to chart.[2] The song was also included as the B-side on the US hit single "Do Ya".[3]
Between 3:16 and 3:19, the song features a string crescendo which was reused (played backwards, from 2:40 to 2:44) on another of the album's tracks, "Evil Woman".[4]
"I took the high string part of Nightrider that climbs up to a climax, and used it backwards in Evil Woman as a big effect. I was amazed when it slotted in seamlessly."- Jeff Lynne (Face the Music remaster liner notes)
Bassist Kelly Groucutt took the lead vocal on the second verse.[5] [6]
ELO biographer John Van Der Kiste described the song as "another of those deceptively simple-sounding songs with a very intricate arrangement."[5] Van Der Kiste describes how the song moves from "plaintive keyboard" to "more forceful chorus" to "peaceful conclusion" and praises the "otherworldly strings that are incorporated into the arrangement.[5] Barry Delve described it as a "mini-symphony" with "complex vocal arrangements and driving strings underpinning several dynamic changes."[2] Similar to Van Der Kiste, Delve describes how the song moves from quiet introduction to galloping chorus to "dreamy conclusion."[2]
Rolling Stone critic said that "Nightrider" reminded him of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.[4]