No. 200 – The Night: Nights in White Satin

Performer: The Moody Blues

Songwriters: Justin Hayward, Graeme Edge

Original Release: Days of Future Passed

Year: 1967

Definitive Version: The studio version.

When I became old enough to drive in 1980, I tended to head to two places, besides school, of course—a video arcade and a record store. I mentioned Timeout, which was my video-game base.

Actually, back in those days, an “arcade” was any place that had a video game. Steve and I used to waste our lunch hour driving to a deli on Scioto River Road, because it had Pac Man. Later, we found that the grungy old Sears at Northland Mall had Crazy Climber, which Timeout (and later Touchdown) didn’t, so we’d make Crazy Climber pilgrimages.

Record stores were places that sold records, period. Sure, a few might carry other things like clothes, black-light posters or those funny looking pipes behind the counter, but you went there to browse the vinyl.

I started with the Rinks department store. After I found Buzzard’s Nest, I went there, mostly because I wasn’t old enough to drive yet and I could walk there. When Peaches—three times the size of Buzzard’s Nest—came along, I went there, now that I could drive. Finally, when RTO opened at Kingsdale, I went there, because it was cheaper than the others, until I moved away for good in 1988. Typically when I moved on from one store, there was no going back—with one exception, and it was because of this song.

I’m pretty sure I knew this song even before my music transformation in 1979, but after I had moved to Led Zeppelin and Yes, I really heard Nights in White Satin for the first time—probably during a Q-FM Memorial Weekend countdown—and I loved it, particularly the orchestral finale.

When I first bought records in the mid-Seventies, the 45s were all top 40 songs. But the record stores I began to visit on my own were more rock-based, so they stocked 45s of older songs.

Great. I can go to Peaches and see if they have Nights in White Satin—they have everything—so I don’t have to buy the whole album and save a few bucks. They did, and I gladly paid the $1.29, even though I was a bit concerned that the time on the record said 4 minutes. Huh. Nights in White Satin seemed longer than that, but I could be wrong.

When I got home, I found out I was right. The 45 cut out before the finale. Heck, it cut out before the final chorus. WTH? So I took it back and got my money back. But after being denied, now I was on a mission: I had to have Nights in White Satin, the whole thing.

I went to Buzzard’s Nest. They also had back-catalog singles but no Nights in White Satin. I went to the Ohio State campus where RTO started. No dice. Same thing with other record stores there. I went to a different Buzzard’s Nest on Morse Road up by Northland. Success! The 45 in question also was longer, although not a lot longer.

I took a chance and bought it. Failure! This time, the record cut out right as the orchestral swale began to build. ARGH!

At that point, I conceded defeat. I want the FULL version of Nights in White Satin, period. So, yeah, I’ll pay the $6 and change (on top of the money spent on gas driving all over town) and buy the album, period.

It turns out that was one of my better record purchases. If either of the 45s in question had the full version of Nights in White Satin, I might never have bought the album. In short, I LOVE Days of Future Passed, and I played it all the time through college. (Three songs from the album made this here list.)

Like Fast Eddie says, sometimes when you lose, you end up winning.