"Sunglasses at Night" is a song by Canadian singer Corey Hart. It was released on January 21, 1984 as the first single from his debut album, 1983's ''

First Offense ''First Offense'' is the debut studio album by Corey Hart, released in 1983. It includes the hit single "Sunglasses at Night" and the ballad " It Ain't Enough". Hart was subsequently nominated for four Juno Awards and a Grammy Award for " Bes ...

'', and became a hit single in the United States, officially rising to number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the week that ended on September 1, 1984. The song combines an unflagging synthesizer hook, characteristic arpeggio, rock guitar and cryptic lyrics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

has since described it as "an instant classic with its distinctive melody and catchy chorus". According to co-producer Phil Chapman, the recording sessions for the album took place in a studio whose air conditioning/heating vents were directly above the mixing console. Air from the vents blew directly into the faces of the control room personnel, so they often wore

sunglasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names below) are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can ...

to protect their eyes. Hart, working on a new song, began to improvise lyrics that included the line "I wear my sunglasses at night."

Composition

The song is performed in the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes need ...

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 127 beats per minute. Hart's vocals span from F₃ to A₄. The song’s synthesizer riff uses a descending upper-leading tone sequence through the chords Bbm, Gdim, Gb, and Bbm (the Gb resolving to the F in this chord).

Music video

The music video, directed by Rob Quartly, shot at the

Don Jail The Don Jail was a jail in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located to the east of the Don River, on Gerrard Street East in the Riverdale neighbourhood. The original building was completed in 1864 and was reopened in 2013 to serve as the administrativ ...

in Toronto, reflects the vision of a "fashion" police state, with scenes of Hart in a prison cell, without sunglasses, being strong-armed by police officers and paraded past various citizens wearing their regulation shades. Near the end of the video, Hart is taken to the office of a female police officer (who releases Hart in the song's end), played by Laurie Brown, who later became the host of ''

The NewMusic ''The NewMusic'' was a weekly music and culture television newsmagazine that aired on the Canadian television stations owned by CHUM Limited: MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic, Citytv, A-Channel and CP24. Created by John Martin, and intended to combine ...

'' as well as a VJ on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

. This video uses the shorter single version instead of the longer album version.Corey Hart "Sunglasses at Night" official video
/ref>

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sunglasses at Night 1984 singles Corey Hart (singer) songs 1983 songs EMI America Records singles Aquarius Records (Canada) singles Juno Award for Video of the Year videos Songs written by Corey Hart (singer)