Saturday Night (The Blue Nile song)

"Saturday Night" is a song by Scottish band The Blue Nile, released in 1991 as the third and final single from their second studio album Hats (1989). It was written by Paul Buchanan and produced by the band. "Saturday Night" reached number 50 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for three weeks. It remains the band's highest charting single in the UK.[2]

"Saturday Night"
Single by The Blue Nile
from the album Hats
B-side
  • "Our Lives (Lost / Bolivia / New York)"
  • "Seven A.M." (live)
Released7 January 1991
Genre
Length
  • 6:18 (album version)
  • 4:01 (single version)
LabelLinn
Songwriter(s)Paul Buchanan
Producer(s)The Blue Nile
The Blue Nile singles chronology
"Headlights on the Parade"
(1990)		 "Saturday Night"
(1991)		 "Happiness"
(1996)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

Background

"Saturday Night" was released as a single after it became a "live favourite" on the band's critically-acclaimed 1990 UK tour.[3] It was intended to release the song as a single in 1990, with Music & Media reporting in January 1990 that the band were due to remix the song with Bob Clearmountain.[4] A remixed version of "Headlights on the Parade" was released as the second single from Hats instead.[5]

Critical reception

On its release as a single, Chris Roberts of Melody Maker picked "Saturday Night" as one of the magazine's "singles of the week". He described it as "a great love song" and added, "It's so tactile you could stroke it, so gentle you could breathe it, so perfectly understated you could fail to appreciate its beauty if you were 99 per cent of the British population."[6] Simon Williams of New Musical Express considered it to be "a gentle, synthetic respite" which "goes voyeuring through the twilight zone, exposing the empty hours for the burden they really are". He noted the song "sounds vacuous and tepid in the hustle and bustle of early evening", but added that it "attains breathtaking significance at dawn".[7]

In a review of Hats, David Thigpen of Rolling Stone commented, "Songs such as 'The Downtown Lights' and 'Saturday Night' have a sparse, soulful feel that blends the cool, nocturnal languor of Bryan Ferry with the mystical hues of Peter Gabriel."[8] In a 1996 retrospective on The Blue Nile, George Byrne of the Irish Independent wrote, "When Buchanan sings about 'an ordinary girl' ('Saturday Night'), he makes her sound like the most important woman on earth, and that's the essence of The Blue Nile."[9]

Cover versions

In 1996, Irish singer-songwriter Leslie Dowdall released a version of the song as a track on her debut album No Guilt No Guile.[10] In 2001, she told Hot Press, "I think we did a damn fine version of 'Saturday Night' and I don't care if Paul Buchanan hates it! There's a lovely feel to it, which is like the feel I wanted for the album."[11]

Track listing
7" and cassette single
  1. "Saturday Night" (Edit) – 4:01
  2. "Saturday Night" (Album Version) – 6:18
12" single
  1. "Saturday Night" (Edit) – 4:01
  2. "Saturday Night" (Album Version) – 6:18
  3. "Our Lives (Lost / Bolivia / New York)" – 7:15
CD single
  1. "Saturday Night" (Edit) – 4:01
  2. "Seven A.M." (Live, U.S.A.) – 5:33
  3. "Saturday Night" (Album Version) – 6:18
CD single
  1. "Saturday Night" (Edit) – 4:01
  2. "Our Lives (Lost / Bolivia / New York)" – 7:15
  3. "Saturday Night" – 6:18

Personnel

The Blue Nile

  • Paul Buchanan
  • Robert Bell
  • Paul Joseph Moore

Production

Other

Charts
Chart (1991) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 50

References
  1. Toland, Michael (2 April 2019). "The Downtown Lights: The Blue Nile's sophisticated pop classic Hats turns 30". Rock & Roll Globe. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  2. "BLUE NILE; full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  3. Stewart, Steve (20 December 1990). "It's hats off to Blue Nile's new single". The Press and Journal. p. 8.
  4. White, Chris (27 January 1990). "Studio: Reverb". Music & Media. p. 46.
  5. Brown, Allan (May 2011). Nileism: The Strange Course of the Blue Nile - Allan Brown - Google Books. ISBN 9780857900173. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  6. Roberts, Chris (12 January 1991). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 27.
  7. Williams, Simon (12 January 1991). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 17.
  8. Thigpen, David (17 May 1990). "The Blue Nile: Hats". Rolling Stone. No. 578. p. 149. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  9. Byrne, George (13 August 1996). "Blue heaven". Irish Independent. p. 22.
  10. Hayes, Jim (16 October 1996). "Dowdall debut at last". Enniscorthy Guardian. p. 11.
  11. Jackson, Joe (12 March 2001). "Starting All Over". Hot Press. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  12. "Blue Nile: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
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