Here Comes The Night

Here Comes The Night — Them: Van Morrison, Bert Berns, and a British Invasion Hit from Belfast

Note on disambiguation: "Here Comes The Night" by Them is a 1965 recording featuring Van Morrison on lead vocals, written by producer Bert Berns and released on Decca Records in the UK and Parrot Records in the United States. It is a distinct composition from other songs sharing the title, including David Bowie's 1984 recording and other works of that name.

Them were a rhythm and blues group from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who formed in 1964 around the formidable blues voice of George Ivan Morrison, known universally as Van Morrison. Their approach to the British R&B boom of the mid-1960s was rawer and more uncompromising than most of their British contemporaries, drawing directly on American blues, soul, and gospel in a way that gave their recordings an urgency that sat apart from the more polished sounds coming from London. Their early singles, including the original version of "Gloria," established Morrison as a vocalist of exceptional power and emotional directness.

The song "Here Comes The Night" was written by Bert Berns, one of the most gifted and underappreciated figures in American popular music of the 1960s. Berns had already written or co-written a remarkable string of hits, including "Twist and Shout," "Hang On Sloopy," and "Piece of My Heart." His compositional approach combined a feel for melody rooted in Latin and gospel influences with an understanding of how to structure a pop song for maximum emotional impact. He traveled to London to work with Them as producer, bringing with him the instincts of a Brill Building professional and applying them to a group whose raw energy needed channeling without being tamed.

The recording sessions for "Here Comes The Night" took place in London in late 1964 and early 1965, with Berns producing and a studio lineup that included professional session musicians supplementing or in some accounts replacing some members of Them. This practice was common in London recording of the period, where label pressure for polished product often led to the use of experienced session players, and it generated some controversy around the authenticity of what was being presented as a group recording. What is not in dispute is that Van Morrison's vocal performance was entirely his own.

The single was released on Decca Records in the UK in March 1965 and reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, a major commercial achievement that brought Them to national attention in Britain. The Parrot Records release in the United States, which reached number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100, gave them a foothold in the American market at a moment when British acts were finding American audiences unusually receptive.

The record's impact was amplified by its television exposure, particularly on BBC music programs, where Morrison's live performances demonstrated that his studio intensity was not a studio artifact. He sang with a physicality and emotional commitment that was unusual for the polite television pop of the period, and his presence made an impression on viewers who had not previously encountered Them's recordings.

Bert Berns's production on "Here Comes The Night" demonstrated his ability to adapt his instincts to different musical contexts. The arrangement combined the rhythmic momentum of American soul with the slightly denser, more harmonically ambiguous chord structures that characterized British R&B, and the result was a record that sounded genuinely transatlantic: neither purely American nor purely British but something that drew from both traditions. Morrison's vocal negotiated this territory naturally, having absorbed American blues and soul so thoroughly that his own accent and phrasing had become a synthesis rather than an imitation.

Them's commercial momentum did not sustain itself across multiple years, partly due to internal group instability and partly due to the difficulty of following up a major hit in a rapidly evolving commercial market. Morrison would depart from Them by 1966 and launch a solo career that would eventually produce recordings far more celebrated than anything he made with the group. But "Here Comes The Night" remained an important marker in his artistic biography, demonstrating that his vocal abilities could operate effectively within a tight pop framework as well as in the more expansive approaches he would later develop.

The relationship between Morrison and Berns extended beyond this single recording, with Berns later producing Morrison's early solo sessions in New York at his Bang Records label. That collaboration produced "Brown Eyed Girl," which became the most commercially successful recording of Morrison's career. The groundwork for that partnership was laid in London during the Them sessions, where Berns had recognized and worked with Morrison's talent at close range.