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We've Got Tonite
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Wikipedia article
"'We've Got Tonite'" is a song written by American rock music artist Bob Seger, from his album 'Stranger in Town' (1978). The single record charted twice for Seger, and was developed from a prior song that he had written. Further versions charted in 1983 for Kenny Rogers as a duet with Sheena Easton, and again in 2002 for Ronan Keating.
Original version
Background
The song developed from an earlier Seger composition titled "This Old House" which featured the same chords as "We've Got Tonite" although the earlier song had a slightly different melody. Seger overhauled "This Old House" into "We've Got Tonite" the day after seeing the film 'The Sting' (1973) which features a conversation between the Robert Redford character and a woman he is attracted to, played by Dimitra Arliss, who says: "I don't even know you": Redford's response: "You know me. It's two in the morning and I don't know nobody", caused an emotional response in Seger manifested in the overhauled song lyrics.'Detroit Free Press' 18 October 1994 "Rocker Tells the Stories Behind the Hits" by Gary Graff p.3C'Pittsburgh Post-Gazette' 21 November 2011 "Bob Seger Makes a Joyful Noise at Consol" by Scott Mervis p.C-4"We've Got Tonite" was not recorded until the 1976 sessions for Seger's album 'Night Moves' and was held off that album as Seger felt it was not a thematic fit.'Moline Dispatch' November 22, 2009 "Bob Seger Opens the Vaults for Disc of '70s Rarities" p.G1 It was one of five 'Stranger...' tracks recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and Venetta Fields, Clydie King and Shirley Matthews provided the backing vocals.
"We've Got Tonite" served as the album's third single, reaching No. 13 on the US pop charts in 1978. It also played in the background of Melissa Sue Anderson's television film 'Survival of Dana' (1979), in a scene where Anderson's character was in Los Angeles visiting one of her new friends' homes and was in a room with co-star Robert Carradine's character 'Donny Davis', whom she was falling for. In the UK, the original version would chart twice, reaching No. 41 in 1979, and then reaching No. 22 as a 1995 re-releaseas "We've Got Tonight"to promote a 'Greatest Hits' album: in 1982, a live versiontitled "We've Got Tonite"from the in-concert album 'Nine Tonight' reached No. 60 in the UK.
Since the death of his mother Charlotte, Seger has made a point of always including "We've Got Tonite" in his live setlist, as it was her favorite of Seger's compositions.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Seger's 1994 'Greatest Hits' compilation.*Bob Seger lead vocals
'Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section'
*Barry Beckett keyboards
*Pete Carr lead guitar
*Jimmy Johnson rhythm guitar
*David Hood bass guitar
*Roger Hawkins drums, percussion
'Additional musicians'
*Venetta Fields background vocals
*Clydie King background vocals
*Sherlie Matthews background vocals
*Jim Ed Norman string arrangement
Reception
'Billboard' described "We've Got Tonite" as a "melodic ballad featuring Seger's smokey and tender vocal" and said that the structure of the melody was similar to Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night." 'Cash Box' called it a "sensitive ballad" with "stark opening tambourine beat, strings and strong upward swell" and praised Seger's vocals as well as the "brightness" provided by the backing vocals.Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton version
Background
In 1983, American country-pop star Kenny Rogers recorded the song as a duet with Scottish pop star Sheena Easton, and made it the title track of his album 'We've Got Tonight'. Both Rogers and Easton were on the roster of EMI America-Liberty Records and their collaboration on "We've Got Tonight" was at the firm suggestion of label chairman Larry Mazza who hoped to restore Easton to chart ascendancy.'Los Angeles Times' September 11, 1983 "Sheena Easton's New Tomorrow" by Dennis Hunt p.55 (Calendar) Mazza was also the president of Capitol Records the label of release for the Bob Seger original.'Detroit Free Press' January 21, 1983 "On Top of It - Rogers, Easton Sing Song of Togetherness" p.1C Rogers stated: "I liked the idea of recording with Sheena. I thought the contrast in styles--I'm so throaty and she's so trained and pure--would really work well." Rogers himself phoned Easton to pitch their duet on December 23, 1982. The two singers then met up on Christmas Eve to rehearse the song with a piano, six days later going into the studio, with the completed track going to radio nine days after that.'Lansing State Journal' March 24, 1983 "Scottish Singer Zooming Down Road to Success" by Jon Beam p.1DEaston would assert that it was the song choice which appealed to her, while allowing Rogers to be "a good singer with a distinctive voice" who she found "always helpful and co-operative" in the studio, debunking insider reports that the ten-day recording session for the track was a stormy one with Rogers overtly disliking Easton's high-pitched vocals. Easton's contribution to the track would prove a bone of critical contention: whereas 'Rolling Stone' critic Chris Connelly would dismiss the Easton/Rogers duet of "We've Got Tonight" as "shrieking [and] insensitive",'St Louis Post Dispatch' "Sheena Turns Up Flame" by Christopher Connelly March 3, 1985, p.4G and 'Jerseyite' critic Jim Bohen would lament how Rogers "who usually sounds good duetting with women" was defeated by "Easton's nails-across-the-blackboard voice",'Daily Record' July 10, 1983 "Shortcuts" by Jim Bohen p. D7 Dennis Hunt ('Los Angeles Times') would prefer the Rogers/Easton take to the Seger original due to a "very appealing" "blend of sharply contrasting voices, his deep and hers very high" adding that "Rogers, never known for his vocal power, stretches to match Easton, [attaining] his finest vocal performance",'Los Angeles Times' February 27, 1983 "The Record Rack" by Dennis Hunt p.66 (Calendar) and AllMusic critic Joe Viglione would opine that Easton's "splendid voice reaching the high registers over Kenny's familiar monotone...really makes [the track] special."
A number one hit on the 'Billboard' Country Singles chart, "We've Got Tonight" reached number six on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 pop singles chart, and number two on the 'Billboard' Adult Contemporary chart, also reaching the top 30 in the United Kingdom.[http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/kenny%20rogers/ Kenny Rogers UK Charts history], The Official Charts. Retrieved September 10, 2011. Rebranded as a country & western song due to the Rogers/Easton duet, "We've Got Tonight" would be honored by ASCAP as the Most Performed Country Song of 1983, with Seger, an iconic Detroit rocker, personally acknowledging the honor by attending the October 1984 ASCAP Country Music Awards fte held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.'Billboard' vol 96 #42 (October 20, 1984) "ASCAP Honors Chappell: Black, Rocco, 'We've Got Tonite' also win awards" by Kip Kirby p.41'The Tennessean' October 11, 1984 "Songwriters Charlie Black, Tommy Rocco & Bob Seger Capture ASCAP Honors " by Robert K. Oermann & Sandy Neese p.1-D
In Brazil the single has exceeded 100,000 copies.
Personnel
* Kenny Rogers lead vocals* Sheena Easton lead vocals
* Paul Jackson Jr., Marty Walsh guitars
* David Foster acoustic and electric pianos
* Nathan East bass guitar
* Michael Baird drums
* Jeremy Lubbock string arrangement
* Humberto Gatica engineer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Ronan Keating duet version
Background
"We've Got Tonight" was remade by Irish singer Ronan Keating and Scottish singer Lulu for Lulu's twelfth studio album, 'Together' (2002), with the track also appearing on Keating's second studio album, 'Destination' (2002). The 'Together' album, consisting of tracks pairing Lulu with a variety of "name" duet partners, was a comeback vehicle for Lulu designed by top entertainment impresario Louis Walsh, whom the singer had signed on with in 2000. Three of the acts the album paired Lulu withSamantha Mumba, Westlife, and Keatingwere protges of Walsh; however, Keating has said that Lulu herself recruited him to duet with her, stating, "I said 'Yeah, as long as you let me pick the song!' I picked...one of my all-time favorite love songs".Both the 'Together' and 'Destination' albums were released in the spring of 2002; it was decided to forego any single releases of off 'Together','Billboard' vol 114 #29 (July 20, 2002) "UK's Lulu a Hit Again" by Paul Sexton p.12 but after two earlier singles, Keating's label Polydor issued "We've Got Tonight"credited to Ronan Keating featuring Luluon November 25, 2002, and it debuted at its No. 4 peak on the UK Singles Chart on December 1, 2002. The track was also an international hit, reaching No. 7 in the Netherlands, No. 10 in Ireland, No. 12 in Australia, and No. 14 in Flanders.
Polydor Records decided to release a reformatted version of the track that replaced Lulu's vocal with that of Jeanette Biedermann, a Polydor artist who had enjoyed considerable success with English-language releases in her native Germany and also Austria and Switzerland. This version of the duet was issued in those three nations with resultant top-ten peaks in Austria and Germany and a No. 25 peak in Switzerland. In Italy, the track was issued with Italian soul singer Giorgia Todrani and published as the B-side of Giorgia's single "Gocce di memoria", and in the Philippines, Keating performed the song with Kyla.
Track listings
'UK single'# "We've Got Tonight" (featuring Lulu) 3:39
# "All I Have Is My Heart" 3:50
# "In the Ghetto" (Live) 3:13
# "We've Got Tonight" (Video) 4:15
'German single'
# "We've Got Tonight" (featuring Jeanette) 3:39
# "Sea of Love" 3:14
# "All I Have Is My Heart" 3:50
# "In the Ghetto" (Live) 3:13
'Italian single'
# "We've Got Tonight" (featuring Giorgia) 3:39
# "All I Have Is My Heart" 3:50
Charts
Ronan Keating and Lulu
'Weekly charts'
'Year-end charts'
Ronan Keating and Jeanette
'Weekly charts'
'Year-end charts'
Certifications
Release history
Other versions
"We've Got Tonight" also played in the background of Melissa Sue Anderson's television film 'Survival of Dana' (1979), in a scene where Anderson's character was in Los Angeles visiting one of her new friends' homes and was in a room with co-star Robert Carradine's character Donny Davis, whom she was falling for. In Season 4, episode 4 of the television series 'Ray Donovan', Liev Schreiber sings a karaoke version of the song, then a reprise to his wife as the episode ends.
The song has also been recorded by Rein Alexander (no) (duet with Trine Rein) (album 'Song For You', 2007), Bill Anderson (album 'Nashville Mirrors', 1980), Anne Lise (album 'First Dance', 2006), Patti Austin (album 'Body Language', 1980), Shirley Bassey (album, The Show Must Go On 1996), Elkie Brooks (album 'Nor More the Fool', 1986: 1987 UK chart single@No. 67), Rhonda Burchmore (album 'Midnight Rendezvous', 2001), Rita Coolidge (as "Tonite": duet with Jermaine Jackson) (album 'Never Let You Go', 1983), Dozi (af) & Nianell (album 'It Takes Two', 2009), Allison Durbin (album 'Country Love Songs', 1983), Ray Dylan (duet with Charlize Berg (af)) (album 'Goeie Ou Country in Duet', 2013), Adam Harvey & Beccy Cole (album 'The Great Country Song Book Volume II', 2017), (album Richie Havens (album 'Connections', 1980), Steven Houghton (album 'Steven Houghton', 1997), Tom Jones (album 'Mr Jones', 2002), Reg Livermore (album 'Livermore's Firing Squad', 1983), Barry Manilow (album 'Summer of '78', 1996), Jane McDonald (album 'The Singer of Your Song', 2014), Melanie (album 'Moments From My Life', 2002), Angelika Milster (de (duet with Steve Barton) (album 'Ich bin wie ich bin', 1984), Chord Overstreet (multi-artist album 'Muscle Shoals...Small Town, Big Sound', 2018), Marti Pellow (album 'Love to Love', 2011), Tex Perkins & His Ladyboyz (album 'No.1's & No.2's', 2008), Lee Towers & Anita Meyer (album 'Run to Me', 1985), Conway Twitty (as "Tonite") (album 'Heart & Soul', 1980), and Dottie West (as "Tonite") (album 'Special Delivery', 1980) Michael McDonald also performed a cover of this song, according to Debby and Tony.
'American Idol' Season 11 contestant and eventual winner Phillip Phillips performed "We've Got Tonight" on the series episode broadcast May 16, 2012: his studio recording of the song appeared on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 at number 97.
Sheena Easton also recorded a Spanish-language version of "We've Got Tonight" entitled "La Noche Y T"Spanish on her 1984 Spanish-language album 'Todo Me Recuerda A Ti', the track being a duet with Dyango. The song has also been rendered as "Grazie perch" Italian which as recorded by Amii Stewart and Gianni Morandi was a No. 5 hit in Italy in 1984 and as "Vmej si vc"Czech recorded in 1983 by Vra pinarov and Karel ernoch (cs): another Czech rendering of the song: "as dl nech spt", was recorded in 2012 by David Deyl (cs) and Helena Vondrkov, being a new track included on Vondrkov's 3-CD compilation ' Helena (nejen) o lsce'.
References
Category:1978 singles
Category:1978 songs
Category:1983 singles
Category:1985 singles
Category:2002 singles
Category:Barry Manilow songs
Category:Bob Seger songs
Category:Capitol Records singles
Category:Columbia Records singles
Category:Dottie West songs
Category:Elkie Brooks songs
Category:Kenny Loggins songs
Category:Kenny Rogers songs
Category:Liberty Records singles
Category:Lulu (singer) songs
Category:Malefemale vocal duets
Category:Number-one singles in Scotland
Category:Polydor Records singles
Category:Ronan Keating songs
Category:Sheena Easton songs
Category:Song recordings produced by Bob Seger
Category:Song recordings produced by David Foster
Category:Songs written by Bob Seger
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