Video hit The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin (live)

Nights in White Satin is a 1967 single by The Moody Blues, written by Justin Hayward and first featured on the album Days of Future Passed.

There are two single versions of the song, both stripped of the orchestral and "Late Lament" poetry sections of the LP version. The first edited version, with the songwriter's credit shown as "Redwave", was a hasty sounding 3:06 version of the LP recording with very noticeable chopped parts. However, there are many versions of the single that are listed on the labels at 3:06, but in fact are closer to the later version of 4:26.

Some versions, instead of ending cold as most do, segue briefly into the symphonic second half ("Late Lament"), and, in fact, run for 4:33 (but are also listed on the label as 3:06). For the second edited version (with the song's writing credited to Hayward), the early parts of the song were kept intact, ending early at 4:26. Just about all single versions were backed with a non-LP B-side, "Cities".

Band member Justin Hayward wrote the song at age 19 in Swindon, and titled the song after a friend gave him a gift of satin bedsheets. The song itself was a tale of a yearning love from afar, which leads many aficionados to term it as a tale of unrequited love endured by Hayward. The London Festival Orchestra provided the orchestral accompaniment for the introduction, the final rendition of the chorus, and the "final lament" section, all of this in the original album version. The "orchestral" sounds in the main body of the song were actually produced by Mike Pinder's Mellotron keyboard device, which would come to define the "Moody Blues sound".

Although it only had limited commercial success on its first release, the song has since garnered much critical acclaim, ranking #36 in BBC Radio 2's "Sold on Song Top 100" list.

Other uses of the song

This song is featured in Wolfgang Petersen's 1991 film, Shattered.

This song is featured in the 1992 film, Split Second

This song is featured in Robert De Niro's 1993 film, A Bronx Tale

This song is featured in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film, Casino.

This song is featured in Rob Zombie's 2009 remake, Halloween II

This song is featured in Bertrand Bonello's 2011 film, House of Tolerance

This song is played over the opening credits of Tim Burton's 2012 film Dark Shadows

This song is featured in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a novel by Stephen Chbosky as it appears on a music playlist by the novel's protagonist, Charlie.

This song is featured in The Boat That Rocked

This song is featured in the Heath Kirchart segment in the 2001 Transworld Skateboarding video Sight Unseen.

It is also featured in the Wiseguy episode "No One Gets Out of Here Alive", in the climactic scene between Vinnie Terranova and Sonny Steelgrave. This was removed in the DVD release.

The song is featured in the TV movie The 70s.

This song is featured in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo when Deuce gets high on space cake.

The lyrics:

Nights in white satin, never reaching the end,

Letters I've written, never meaning to send.

Beauty I'd always missed with these eyes before.

Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore.

'Cos I love you, yes I love you, oh how I love you.

Gazing at people, some hand in hand,

Just what I'm going through they can't understand.

Some try to tell me, thoughts they cannot defend,

Just what you want to be, you will be in the end.

And I love you, yes I love you,

Oh how I love you, oh how I love you.

Nights in white satin, never reaching the end,

Letters I've written, never meaning to send.

Beauty I've always missed, with these eyes before.

Just what the truth is, I can't say anymore.

'Cos I love you, yes I love you,

Oh how I love you, oh how I love you.

'Cos I love you, yes I love you,

Oh how I love you, oh how I love you.

Breath deep

The gathering gloom

Watch lights fade

From every room

Bedsitter people

Look back and lament

Another day's useless

Energy spent

Impassioned lovers

Wrestle as one

Lonely man cries for love

And has none

New mother picks up

And suckles her son

Senior citizens

Wish they were young

Cold hearted orb

That rules the night

Removes the colours

From our sight

Red is gray and

Yellow white

But we decide

Which is right

And

Which is an Illusion