Wilson Pickett recorded "In the Midnight Hour" at Stax Studios, Memphis, May 12, 1965. The song's co-writer Steve Cropper recalls: " Jerry Wexler said he was going to bring down this great singer Wilson Pickett" to record at Stax Studio where Cropper was a session guitarist "and I didn’t know what groups he'd been in or whatever. But I used to work in record shop, and I found some gospel songs that Wilson Pickett had sung on. On a couple the end, he goes: 'I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour! Oh, in the midnight hour. I'll see my Jesus in the midnight hour.'" and Cropper got the idea of using the phrase "in the midnight hour" as the basis for an R&B song. More likely, Cropper was remembering the Falcon's 1962 song "I Found a Love," on which Pickett sings lead and says "And sometimes I call in the midnight hour!" The only gospel record Pickett had appeared on before this was the Violinaires' "Sign of the Judgement," which includes no such phrase. Besides Cropper the band on "In the Midnight Hour" featured Stax session regulars Al Jackson and Donald "Duck" Dunn. According to Cropper, "Wexler was responsible for the track's innovative delayed backbeat", as Cropper revamped his planned groove for "In the Midnight Hour" based on a dance step called the Jerk, which Wexler demonstrated in the studio - " this was the way the kids were dancing; they were putting the accent on two. Basically, we'd been one-beat-accenters with an afterbeat; it was like 'boom dah,' but here was a thing that went 'um-chaw,' just the reverse as far as the accent goes."
Charts and recognition
"In the Midnight Hour" reached number one on the R&B chart in Billboard magazine dated August 7, 1965 and crossed over to the Top 40 of the BillboardHot 100 reaching number 21: however according to Stax owner Jim Stewart the domestic sales total of the single in its original release was a moderate 300,000 units. However "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett has become an iconic R&B track, placing at number 134 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, Wilson Pickett's first of two entries on the list. It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, Pickett's only such entry. The song is currently ranked as the 175th greatest song of all time, as well as the eleventh best song of 1965, by Acclaimed Music. Pickett re-recorded the song for his 1987 album American Soul Man.
Cover versions
The Mirettes had a top 20 R&B hit with their version of "In the Midnight Hour" which reached number 18 on the Billboard R&B chart in March 1968, and number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also charted at number 18 on the Cash Box R&B chart and number 52 the Cash Box Top 100.
Cross Country, which consisted of three members of the Tokens quartet, recorded a ballad version of "In the Midnight Hour" for the group's sole album release which was entitled Cross Country and otherwise consisted of original material: group member Jay Siegel states that Cross Country re-invented "In the Midnight Hour" taking as prototype the recordings of Crosby Stills and Nash. Issued as a single in July 1973, "In the Midnight Hour" debuted at number 100 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine dated August 18, 1973, rising to a peak of number 30 in October 1973: the CashboxTop 100 Singles chart ranked "In the Midnight Hour" by Cross Country as high as number 18 besting the number 22 peak afforded to the Wilson Pickett original by the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart. "In the Midnight Hour" by Cross Country also ranked on the BillboardEasy Listening chart with a number six peak, and was a moderate hit in Canada with an RPM100 peak of number 34, also charting in Australia.
"In the Midnight Hour" became a C&W hit in 1984 via a remake by Razzy Bailey which reached number 14 C&W. The single was taken from Bailey's The Midnight Hour album recorded in 1983 at producer Bob Montgomery's Soundshop Studio, Nashville.
Australian band Ray Brown and The Whispers recorded a local cover of the Wilson Pickett hit, and were afforded a number four Australian hit in 1965.
Australian artist Samantha Sang remade "In the Midnight Hour" for her 1979 album From Dance to Love from which it was issued as the second single: reaching number 88, the track would mark her third and final Hot 100 appearance.
The Englishrock bandRoxy Music remade "In the Midnight Hour" for their 1980 Flesh and Blood album with the track issued as a single in USA where it bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 reaching #106: the track was also issued as a single in Portugal.
American musician Roger had an R&B hit with his remake entitled "Midnight Hour " which reached number 34 R&B in 1984: the single was taken from the album The Saga Continues...
The American garage rock/psychedelic rock band The Chocolate Watchband released a version on their first critically acclaimed album, 1967's No Way Out. It did not chart but was released as a reissued single by Sundazed Records in 2012.
