♫ Nights In White Satin ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, music history

I last played this one about two years ago, but I’m offering it tonight in honour of Moody Blues co-founder and band member Mike Pinder, who died yesterday at the age of 82.  

Band member Justin Hayward wrote and composed the song at age 19 in Swindon, and titled the song after a girlfriend gave him a gift of satin bedsheets. The song itself was a tale of a yearning love from afar, which leads many aficionados to term it as a tale of unrequited love endured by Hayward. Hayward said of the song, “It was just another song I was writing and I thought it was very powerful. It was a very personal song and every note, every word in it means something to me and I found that a lot of other people have felt that very same way about it.”

In the late 1990s, the UK magazine Record Collector printed a claim that Nights in White Satin had not been written by Justin Hayward at all, but that in fact the Moody Blues’ management had simply bought the song outright in 1966 from an Italian group called “Les Jelly Roll” and taken credit for it. This claim seems to have arisen from the discovery of a 7″ single by the Jelly Roll which carries the words “This is the original version of Nights in White Satin” on the label.

“Les Jelly Roll” was a French band who did a cover version of the Moody Blues song, and had the opportunity to release it in Italy on Ricordi (an Italian record label), a few months before the original was released there. As a joke, they put the now-famous sentence on the cover.

The poem at the end was recorded separately. It is called Late Lament and was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge. The poem was read by keyboard player Mike Pinder.

Nights in White Satin (The Night)
The Moody Blues

Nights in white satin
Never reaching the end
Letters I’ve written
Never meaning to send

Beauty I’d always missed
With these eyes before
Just what the truth is
I can’t say any more

‘Cause I love you
Yes I love you
Oh how I love you

Gazing at people, some hand in hand
Just what I’m going through they can’t understand
Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend
Just what you want to be, you will be in the end

And I love you
Yes I love you
Oh how I love you
Oh how I love you

Nights in white satin
Never reaching the end
Letters I’ve written
Never meaning to send

Beauty I’ve always missed
With these eyes before
Just what the truth is
I can’t say any more

‘Cause I love you
Yes I love you
Oh how I love you
Oh how I love you
‘Cause I love you
Yes I love you
Oh how I love you
Oh how I love you

Songwriters: Justin Hayward
Nights in White Satin (The Night) lyrics © T.R.O. Inc.

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47 thoughts on “♫ Nights In White Satin ♫ (Redux)”

      • Haha! I’ve got a good memory about things that don’t matter. My wife likes to tease me about my selective memory. My friend, Bill, is the same way. His father-in-law used to say, “Bill, you know more useless s*** than anyone I know.”

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Also, Jill, OT, I sent you an email for something maybe you can use some day. It’s even sort of musical, but could draw some hoots from our crowd here! 😀

    At your convenience. The story struck me as one you should have.

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    • I saw it a few minutes ago and saved it to peruse in a little while after I get comments and a music post finished! As always, thank you so much Ali for thinking of me when you come across things you think I’ll enjoy or be able to use! I appreciate it so much!

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  5. Pingback: ♫ Nights In White Satin ♫ (Redux) | Filosofa’s Word | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  9. What a treat Jill. As a single it is right up there as one of the greats. When placed in the context of the entire album, which is essentially one day in music (and thus one of the first concept albums) it is one of a whole which is a masterpiece.

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      • Listened all the way through it is quite the experience Jill.
        There single tracks listed and sections do stand out as individual songs, and yet there are no ‘gaps’ as you might have on other albums, track between tracks.
        Listened to in one session it is one complete piece of music.
        And the many of the ‘critics’ of the time just did not get it. History proved them folk of limited perceptions

        Liked by 2 people

    • Jill, I will type this in here beneath Clive’s comment. This is truly a phenomenal song. I have always loved how he starts “oh” in the chorus and then carries it up a notch on the next note. I think this was recorded when they worked with a symphonic orchestra with other songs related to times of the day. Keith

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        • The Moody Blues entered the North American music awareness with a bluesy rock sound. They had a big hit with Go Now! and then disappeared. We kept waiting for a follow-up, and just ehen we thought they had been a one-hit-wonder, they released Days of Future Past. We were glad they hadn’t faded into oblivion.
          Not to be confused with If You Gotta Go, Go Now by Manfredd Mann which was out at the same time as Go Now! here are the Moody Blues just being a British Invasion band:

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          • No need to tell a Brit that! We took Go Now to #1 and it is still a favourite of mine. The other one you mention is a Dylan song, also a hit here for Fairport Convention, who sang it in French: Si Tu Dois Partir. An early UK folk rock classic 😊

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            • I figured you would know, but not all Jill’s readers do. As I remember the Manfred Mann record, the name was written (If You Gotta Go) Go Now. Both songs were great. My memory is weak here, but I think Fairpirt Confention had only 1 North American hit, but at the moment I can’t think of the name.

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              • Fair point. You’re right: both were great and were big hits here. I looked on Wikipedia and it doesn’t give any detail of Fairport Convention having a N American hit, either album or single. That doesn’t really surprise me as they were very ‘English’ in their style and appeal.

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      • I said as much last time you played it, too. It’s just one of the downsides of loving the music of bands who started so long ago: time catches up with them. I played a Moodies song on Tuesday, just before his passing, but am changing my plans for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday to include a little tribute to him.

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        • Yes, I agree that it is a downside of loving the music of bands from ‘back in the days’. Serious question: are there any musicians or bands from the current decade, or even the last decade, whose music you really like? I don’t even listen to today’s music and daughter Chris, knowing what I like, always turns her car radio to an “oldies” station when I’m riding in her car with her. I’ll definitely check out your Sunday post … I couldn’t do much of a tribute, as I would have liked to, for it was late and I’ve not felt well this week, so I just couldn’t do as much as I wanted. I know you’ll do it up right!

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          • A difficult question, as I’d have to separate newer acts from those I’ve been following for 50 years or more! Off the top of my head, how about Taylor Swift? The best one for me has to be Lewis Capaldi though.

            Tomorrow’s post is themed around songs with an orchestra and/or choir. I’d already decided to go with a choir piece for my main song but I think a bit of the Moodies is also in order. And it won’t be Nights In White Satin!

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            • I admire Taylor Swift for her humanitarianism and such, but am not a great fan of her music. Never heard of Lewis Capaldi, so I’ll be checking him out this afternoon!

              I’ll be there to check out Song Lyric Sunday!

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              • I’ve liked most of her music going right back to her first album. She has a real talent for writing intelligent lyrics.

                Lewis has that talent too, with a deeply soulful voice. He has had mental health issues in the past year but is hopefully bringing out a new album in June. If you want to hear some of his music just type his name into the search box on my blog: just the eight posts so far!

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