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| "Moscow Nights" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Released | 1956 |
| Recorded | 1956 |
| Composer | Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy |
| Lyricist | Mikhail Matusovsky |
"Moscow Nights",[a] originally titled "Leningrad Nights",[b] is a Soviet patriotic song written byMikhail Matusovsky and composed byVasily Solovyov-Sedoy. It was later covered as "Midnight in Moscow" byKenny Ball.
ComposerVasily Solovyov-Sedoy and poetMikhail Matusovsky wrote the song in 1955 under the title "Leningrad Nights". At the request of theSoviet Ministry of Culture, the song was renamed "Moscow Nights" with corresponding changes to the lyrics.[citation needed]
In 1956, "Moscow Nights" was recorded byVladimir Troshin,[1] a young actor of theMoscow Art Theatre, for a scene in adocumentary aboutthe Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic'sathletic competition Spartakiad in which the athletes rest inPodmoskovye, the Moscow suburbs. The film did nothing to promote the song, but thanks to radio broadcasts it gained popularity.[citation needed]
| "Midnight in Moscow" | |
|---|---|
| Single byKenny Ball | |
| B-side |
|
| Released |
|
| Recorded | 1961 |
| Genre | Easy listening |
| Length | 2:59 |
| Label | Kapp |
| Songwriters | |
The Dutch jazz group New Orleans Syncopators recorded the arrangement of the song under the title 'Midnight in Moscow', arranged by its leader Jan Burgers on January 4, 1961.[2] The arrangement of Jan Burgers was published by Les Editions Int. Basart N.V. and was also used by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, who recorded the song in November 1961, also under the title "Midnight in Moscow".[3] This version peaked at number two on theUK Singles Chart in January 1962. "Midnight in Moscow" also reached number two on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 chart in March that year, kept out of the number one spot by "Hey! Baby" byBruce Channel,[4] and it spent three weeks at number one on the AmericanEasy Listening chart.[5]
In 1962, at the height of the folk revival in the United States, the song was recorded byThe Chad Mitchell Trio on their popular live performance albumAt the Bitter End on Kapp Records. The group introduced the song with its original Russian lyrics to the American mainstream audience during the Cold War era of strained relations between the U.S. and the USSR.
In 1962, American singer and actressKetty Lester recorded the song for herLove Letters album.
Swedish pianistJan Johansson recorded a jazz version of the song for his 1967 albumJazz på ryska. This version was titled "Kvällar i Moskvas Förstäder" which translates to "Evenings in Moscow's suburbs".[6]
A version of the song was recorded byJames Last and appears on hisRussland zwischen Tag und Nacht album.[7]
The Chinese composerGao Ping used the song in 2003 as the basis for one of his Soviet Love Songs for Vocalising Pianist, "Evenings in Suburban Moscow."[8]
In 2015, theMassed Bands of the Moscow Garrison, under the direction of Lieutenant GeneralValery Khalilov, performed amarch arrangement of the song during the march past of foreign contingents (specifically those fromAzerbaijan,Armenia,Belarus andKazakhstan) in theMoscow Victory Day Parade that year.[9]
The shortwave radio stationRadio Moscow's English-language service has played an instrumental jazz big-band version of "Moscow Nights" between informing listeners of frequency changes and the hourly newscast since the start of its 24-hour English Service in 1978.[citation needed]
The lyrics were shown on 9 March 2017 inCyrillic script as thevanity card ofThe Big Bang Theory episode "The Escape Hatch Identification" (Season 10 Episode 18).[10] It was used once again on 5 April 2018, as card number 585,[11] but the second line of the song was missing.
