Musicians—especially those who write their own songs and release music under their own name—can get a bad rep for being overly protective of their art. For example, an artist wouldn’t necessarily want someone else to record a version of their song if that songwriter had plans to release it themselves. Moreover, if someone else does beat them to the punch, it can result in a lot of frustration, like when Tom Petty first heard Don Henley’s version of “Boys Of Summer”, a song Petty opted not to record, on the radio.
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Dolly Parton was a notable exception, even going so far as to rewrite her original material when a different artist released one of her songs as a single before she could. Interestingly, Bruce Springsteen was making similar professional choices right around the same time. In 1977, the same year Parton was rewriting songs like “Two Doors Down”, Springsteen was giving his away, the most notable being “Because the Night”.
How “Because the Night” Ended Up in the Hands of Patti Smith
1977 was also a big year for Jimmy Iovine, who was working as an engineer on Bruce Springsteen’s fourth album, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, at the same time that he was producing Patti Smith’s third album, Easter. In Clinton Heylin’s book, E Street Shuffle: The Glory Days of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Iovine recalled hanging out with Springsteen at the Hotel Navarro in New York City during the making of Darkness. The men’s conversation wandered to the other albums Iovine was working on at the time, including Smith’s. Both Springsteen and Iovine knew that if Easter were a hit, it would cement Iovine’s status as an established and successful record producer.
“Bruce was very understanding and very flexible,” Iovine said. “He realized that this was my first real break as a producer. I told Bruce I desperately wanted a hit with Patti, that she deserved one. He agreed. As he had no immediate plans to put ‘Because The Night’ on an album, I said why not give it to Patti. Bruce replied, ‘If she can do it, she can have it.’”
Smith certainly could, and “Because The Night” became the third track on Easter and one of her biggest hits. Springsteen has only ever released his version of “Because The Night” on subsequent live and compilation albums.
Why Was the Boss Ready to Give It Up?
As can be the case in rock ‘n’ roll history, Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen were in the right places at the right times. Smith and her producer, Jimmy Iovine, were on the lookout for an anthemic hit that could top mainstream charts. Springsteen, meanwhile, had plenty of Billboard Hot 100 hits under his belt. He didn’t necessarily need another “Born To Run” at that particular moment, nor did he think that “Because The Night” was a great example of his songwriting.
“I knew that I wasn’t gonna finish [‘Because The Night’] because it was a love song, and I really felt that I didn’t know how to write them at the time,” Springsteen later recalled, per Clinton Heylin’s book.
Patti Smith’s guitarist, Lenny Kaye, said he and Smith both knew “Because The Night” could be something special. “I remember I was at home, and she called me up. She had the cassette Bruce had made of ‘Because The Night’,” Kaye said. “She played it to me, and the chorus came on. And we’re both lovers of the immortal hit single, and there’s no way that chorus could be missed. It was so anthemic. Patti just took them and created the verses.”
“Then, we brought it into the studio,” he continued. “Bruce’s original demo had a kinda Latin feel, and we just rocked it up. It was bigger. All of a sudden, an unmistakable, exciting moment in time.”
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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