‘Because the Night’ by Patti Smith – Classic Hit or Miss

The song first released by the Patti Smith Group, and co-written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen, which was released as a single in 1978, taken from Smith's album Easter. The song was a hit, rising to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and helping propel sales of Easter to mainstream success – even as Smith was deciding to retire from a life of constant touring.

The song remains one of the best known of Smith's catalog. In 1987, Smith's recording of the song was ranked number 116 on NME magazine's list of "The Top 150 Singles of All Time".

The song was originally recorded by Bruce Springsteen during sessions for his Darkness on the Edge of Town album. He was not satisfied with it; the Patti Smith Group was working on Easter in the studio next door, with engineer/producer Jimmy Iovine working on both albums. Iovine gave Smith a tape of the song, she recast it, and it was included on Easter, becoming the first single released from that album. Though it was never released on any of Springsteen's studio albums, in concert beginning with his Darkness Tour Springsteen would often perform the song with his own lyrics. The song was first performed live (with Patti Smith) at CBGB's in New York City on December 30, 1977. Until the 2010 release of Springsteen's box set The Promise, which included the original recording from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions, the only commercially released recording of a Springsteen version of the song was in the 1986 box set Live/1975–85, where Smith was listed as co-writer. [SOURCE]

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