George Benson‘s versatility has always made him stand out among his musical peers. Impossible to pin down to any genre or skill, Benson proved even the pop charts were no match for his immense talent when he scaled the Top 10 with “Give Me the Night” in 1980.
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What is the song about? Who wrote it? And what other A-list collaborators helped to make the song happen? Here’s a look back at “Give Me the Night.” a yacht rock classic as smooth as it is iconic.
By George
George Benson emerged from Pittsburgh as a guitar prodigy, and he gravitated towards jazz in the early part of his career. He was releasing albums featuring his mastery of the instrument by the time he was 21 years old (which was 1964). In addition, he played with some of the legends of the era, including a stint with Miles Davis.
As the ’70s dawned, some genre-bending diversity started to creep into Benson’s approach, even as he solidified his standing as a jazz legend. That included doing some singing on his own records from time to time. His records started to gain more traction in the R&B world.
On the 1976 album Breezin’, Benson ascended commercial heights that few jazz players have ever enjoyed, selling over 3 million records and topping the Billboard album charts. The only thing that still eluded him at that point was a pop hit. For that, he turned to some very accomplished collaborators.
“Night” Music
In 1980, Benson teamed up with a pair of men who had just helped to put together a landmark crossover album. Quincy Jones produced Off the Wall, the 1979 album that sent Michael Jackson’s solo career into the stratosphere. Jones used Benson’s 1980 album to help kick off his new label, Qwest Records.
Rod Temperton, one of the under-the-radar heroes on Off the Wall, also came to the party. Temperton, the one-time member of the disco hitmakers Heatwave, had written both “Rock with You” and “Off the Wall” for Jackson. And he brought that same kind of sophisticated danceability to Benson by penning “Give Me the Night.”
Other top names were in on the “Give Me the Night” session. Fellow jazz legend Lee Ritenour joined Benson on guitar, while Herbie Hancock pitched in on electric piano. The distinctive female backing vocals fluttering all about Benson’s lead vocal? They came courtesy of Patti Austin, who would go on to massive success as an artist in her own right with the James Ingram duet “Baby, Come to Me” (also produced by Jones and written by Temperton).
What is the Meaning Behind “Give Me the Night”?
Like many of Temperton’s classics, “Give Me the Night” glorifies the excitement and unpredictability of an evening on the town, specifically in the dance clubs so popular in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Benson’s vocals are just right for the lyrics, as he plays it laid-back and cool in the verses before lending the song a little romantic urgency in the bridge: So come on tonight and we’ll lead the others / On a ride through paradise.
The song insinuates that the sunset instigates a kind of magic that only lasts until that sun rises again: Whenever dark has fallen / You know the spirit of the party starts to come alive. Benson trips across the deft lyrics like someone making their way across a strobe-lit dance floor: You need the evening action / A place to dine, a glass of wine, a little late romance.
With “Give Me the Night,” George Benson did indeed conquer the pop charts with a single, as the song made it to No. 4. It did so without sacrificing any of the jazz smoothness or R&B slickness of his previous work. And even after all these years, it still makes the nighttime sound like the only time when life truly hums.
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