SONG & HIT DETAILS
Artist Name: RAY BROWN & THE WHISPERS
Song Author: Wilson Pickett, Steve Cropper
Year Recorded: 1965
SONG PROFILE
In the Midnight Hour
“In the Midnight Hour” is a song originally performed by Wilson Pickett in 1965 and released on the 1965 album of the same name, also appearing on the 1966 album The Exciting Wilson Pickett.
Recorded by many including Ray Brown and The Whispers during the sixties.
It was composed by Pickett and Steve Cropper at the historic Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. would later be murdered in April 1968. Pickett’s first hit on Atlantic Records, it reached #1 on the R&B charts and peaked at #21 on the pop charts.
The song has become a 1960s soul standard, and placed at #134 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, Wilson Pickett’s first of two entries on the list (the other being “Mustang Sally” at #434).
It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Pickett’s only such entry.
The song is currently ranked as the 89th greatest song of all time, as well as the seventh best song of 1965, by Acclaimed Music.
The track has been covered by many artists, including Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Doors and Van Morrison’s Them band at the Whisky a Go Go (1966), Johnny Rivers who also recorded it live at the Whisky a Go Go in 1966, the Grateful Dead (who often played it as a closer to their sets in 1966 and 1967), Jefferson Airplane used to play a hard rocking version featuring Marty Balin on lead vocals, Chris Farlowe, The Rascals, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, the Chocolate Watch Band, Razzy Bailey, Roxy Music, Jackie Wilson, The Jam, Johnny Thunders, The Chambers Brothers, Roger Troutman, The Toasters, Buddy Guy, The Rock Bottom Remainders, The Commitments, Cross Country, Echo & the Bunnymen, Samantha Sang, George Faith, B. B. King, Ray Brown and The Whispers, Johnny Rivers and The Silvertones.
In early 1967, just a few months after Pickett’s version was a hit, the song became a local #1 hit in the Detroit area for local garage rock band The Wanted (unrelated to the currently popular British-Irish pop band The Wanted).
The record was picked up for national release by A&M Records but failed to dent the Billboard Hot 100.
Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian recorded a cover of “In the Midnight Hour” with Steve Cropper, the original co-songwriter of this song.
Cropper played guitar on and produced the Sebastian version on The Memphis Album. Sebastian and Cropper toured together in Australia in 2008 and there is a DVD/CD The Memphis Tour on which “In the Midnight Hour” is tracklisted.
Ray Brown & The Whispers were a highly successful Australian rock band from 1964 to 1967. Led by singer Ray Brown, they ranked alongside The Easybeats, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs and Normie Rowe as one of the most popular acts of the period.
In The Midnight Hour – Australia 1965
#2 Sydney #4 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #4 Adelaide #6 Perth