"Goodnight Tonight" is a song by the British–American rock band

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces both lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-drag ratio, which compares the bene ...

. Written and produced by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, it was released as a non-album single on 23 March 1979 by

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

in the UK and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in the US. It was recorded during the sessions for the band's 1979 album ''

Back to the Egg ''Back to the Egg'' is the seventh and final studio album by the British-American rock band Wings, released in June 1979 on Parlophone in the UK and Columbia Records in North America (their first for the label). Co-produced by Chris Thomas, ...

'' and is notable for its disco-inflected sound and spirited

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar, but with lower action, thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, grittier sound compared ...

break.

Recording

"Goodnight Tonight" began as an instrumental backing track McCartney had recorded in 1978. Needing a single for Wings to accompany the ''Back to the Egg'' album, McCartney took out the track and brought it into the studio, where the full Wings line-up completed it.

Denny Laine Brian Frederick Hines (29 October 1944 – 5 December 2023), known professionally as Denny Laine, was an English musician who co-founded two major rock bands: the Moody Blues and Wings. Laine played guitar in the Moody Blues from 1964 to 1966 ...

and

Laurence Juber Laurence Ivor Juber (born 12 November 1952) is an English musician, fingerstyle guitarist and studio musician. He played guitar in the rock band Wings (band), Wings from 1978 to 1981. Biography Early life Born in Stepney, East London, Juber w ...

added electric guitars, mirroring Paul's parts and

Steve Holley Stephen Jeffrey Holley (born 24 August 1953) is an English rock drummer. He was a member of Wings from August 1978 to April 1981. In 1984 he played drums and percussion in Julian Lennon's debut album '' Valotte''. He has also toured with Ian ...

added percussion, while the whole band sang in the chorus. Juber also played Denny Laine's Ovation Adamas acoustic guitar. Since the track was over seven minutes long, an edited version was used as the single, with the full version available as a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compa ...

. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was made for the song, showing Wings performing in 1930s costumes; stills from the video were used on the single's sleeve. In the US, the single was the first released under McCartney's new deal with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

Release

The track did not appear on Wings' then-current album ''

'' (from which sessions this song was recorded), as McCartney felt it did not fit the theme of the LP; it was later included on the McCartney compilations '' All the Best!'' (1987), '' Wingspan: Hits and History'' (2001) and '' Pure McCartney'' (2016). The 7" version was released as a bonus track on the 1993 remastered CD of ''

McCartney II ''McCartney II'' is the second solo studio album by the English musician Paul McCartney, released on 16 May 1980. It was recorded by McCartney at his home studio in the summer of 1979, shortly before the dissolution of his band Wings in 1981. L ...

'', as part of ''

The Paul McCartney Collection ''The Paul McCartney Collection'' is a series of 16 remastered Compact disc, CDs by Paul McCartney of his solo and Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings albums, with most adding bonus tracks. The albums in the collection were released separately, with ...

''. The B-side of this single was " Daytime Nighttime Suffering". An extended version of the song appears on a digital

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

re-issue of ''Back to the Egg''.

Charts and reception

"Goodnight Tonight" was an international hit, reaching number five on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

, McCartney's former songwriting partner, later commented that he did not care for the song, but enjoyed McCartney's

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

on the single. The single was

certified Gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of over one million copies. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said it was an unusual song for McCartney in that the "percussion undercurrents and muscular bass playing is likely to receive disco play" and said that the " acoustic and

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s offer interesting flourishes." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it "a semi-serious disco tune featuring every conceivable studio technique and a hook you can boogie (or sing) along with."

Track listings

;7" single (R 6023) # "Goodnight Tonight" – 4:15 # " Daytime Nighttime Suffering" – 3:19 ;12" single (12 YR 6023) # "Goodnight Tonight" (Long Version) – 7:15 # "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" – 3:19

Personnel

– lead vocals, acoustic and electric lead guitars, bass, drums *

Linda McCartney Linda Louise, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings tha ...

– harmony and backing vocals, keyboards *

– backing vocals, lead guitar *

– backing vocals, percussion

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References in popular culture

The song was featured in the 2010 film '' Grown Ups.''

References

{{authority control 1978 songs 1979 singles American disco songs British disco songs Columbia Records singles EMI Records singles Music published by MPL Music Publishing Parlophone singles Paul McCartney songs Song recordings produced by Paul McCartney Songs written by Paul McCartney Paul McCartney and Wings songs Songs about nights