Set the Night to Music explained

Set the Night to Music
Cover:Set_the_Night_to_Music_-_Starship.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Starship
Album:No Protection
B-Side:I Don't Know Why
Released:February 1988
Genre:Adult contemporary
Length:4:12
Label:RCA
Producer:Peter Wolf
Prev Title:Beat Patrol
Prev Year:1987
Next Title:Wild Again
Next Year:1988
Set the Night to Music
Cover:Set_the_Night_to_Music_-_Roberta_Flack.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Roberta Flack
Album:Set the Night to Music
B-Side:Natural Thing
Released:September 1991
Genre:Soul, adult contemporary
Length:4:39
Label:Atlantic
Producer:Arif Mardin
Prev Title:Shock to My System
Prev Year:1989
Next Title:You Make Me Feel Brand New
Next Year:1992

"Set the Night to Music" is a song written by Diane Warren and recorded by Starship for their LP, No Protection (1987). It became a major hit for Roberta Flack in 1991. Starship's original version became a Top 10 hit on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, reaching number nine in the spring of 1988,[1] and also charted minorly in Canada.[2] The song appeared at the end credits of the 1988 fantasy-comedy film Vice Versa starring Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage.

Cash Box said of the Starship version that "punctuated by lush strings and acoustic guitars, it's as warm and appealing a ballad as they have ever put on record."[3]

Roberta Flack cover

Roberta Flack covered "Set the Night to Music" as a duet with Maxi Priest. The song is the title track to Flack's album Set the Night to Music (1991).

Flack's rendition reached number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number nine in Canada.[4] The song was a bigger Adult Contemporary hit, reaching number two in the U.S. and number one in Canada.[5]

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Starship
Chart (1988)Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[6] 92
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[7] 9
Roberta Flack
Chart (1991–1992)Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 80
Canadian RPM Top Singles[9] 9
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary[10] 1
US Cash Box Top 1005

Year-end charts

Chart (1991)Rank
Canada RPM Top Singles[11] 67
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[12] 17
Chart (1992)Rank
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[13] 38
US Cash Box [14] 48

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 120.
  2. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . April 23, 1988 . July 11, 2019.
  3. Single Releases. Cash Box. February 20, 1988. 2022-12-21. 8.
  4. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.1684&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.1684.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.1684 RPM Top Singles, November 23, 1991
  5. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=1142& RPM Adult Contemporary, December 7, 1991
  6. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . April 23, 1988 . July 11, 2019.
  7. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn . 1993 . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 . Record Research . 120.
  8. Book: Ryan, Gavin. Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. 2011. Moonlight Publishing. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia. pdf.
  9. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.1684&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.1684.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.1684 RPM Top Singles, November 23, 1991
  10. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=1142& RPM Adult Contemporary, December 7, 1991
  11. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.2024&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1991
  12. Web site: Image : RPM Weekly. Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013.
  13. 1992 The Year in Music. Billboard. 104. 52. YE-38. December 26, 1992. August 12, 2021.
  14. http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/90s_files/1992YESP.html Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 1992