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for one night only
composers
Written by: Anderson
publisher
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background
Three solid reasons influenced Simple Minds in their decision to cover
For One Night Only. Firstly, the energy and melody of the
original recording of the song appealed in the way that many great records do. But we also identified what
to our ears sounded like a Simple Minds vibe at the heart of the song. On speaking to the composer
King Creosote, he later acknowledged a certain Minds influence in his original. Being so, we felt
that it could be a good fit for us to release on record - and a powerful live song to boot - one good enough to
hold its own among a set of Minds classics. The title of the song itself, 'For One Night Only,' resonated
strongly with our core attitude to playing live. We use that kind of sentiment to motivate ourselves by remembering
that although we might play as many as 100 shows or more within a world tour, as far as the audience coming to see you
in their hometown is concerned, most likely for them it will in fact be 'For One Night Only'. Bearing that sentiment in
mind before each show, makes us want to deliver beyond the odds each and every night.
We have been fans of King Creosote throughout his career and had considered for some time the challenge of covering
one of his inspiring tunes. On hearing the original of 'For One Night Only' it became instantly clear that this could be a
song that we might adopt successfully by further adding some of our own trademark sonics.
All in all, it has been a great song to work on. And in our opinion looks set to become a Minds standout whenever played live." - Jim, 30th October 2019
The song was written by King Creosote (Scottish singer-songwriter Kenny Anderson) and appeared on his 2014 studio album
From Scotland With Love. "It was originally called 'Fighting and Shagging'. I found that one really hard to write.
I knew we needed this upbeat, going-out song, but I can't do that. [...] I'm sure people go out a lot more now than
they used to. Even my gran's generation, they'd have a sherry at New Year and that would be it. So I was thinking, big
nights out must have been few and far between, and when you did go out, there would be no holding back. If you're drunk
character - because everyone's got one - could only come out once a year, it would be hugely exaggerated."
Jim and Charlie demoed the song during the
Walk Between Worlds sessions. The song wasn't considered a mainstream track, being
listed as bonus material along with Angel Under My Skin.
It was briefly considered as a free track, to be given away when Walk Between Worlds was
announced. And it was still in the running as an Internet freebie, when a "Christmassy" version was produced, complete with
bells and jingles, but that idea was also dropped.
"It's a funny story with that because I've still never met King Creosote. I've spoken to Kenny a few times on
the phone but never met him, but I'm a big fan. A few years ago we eventually, after prevaricating for decades, did
this acoustic-based album. There were a few things that made us do it. Just as it was in
the air, our manager said, "You should really look at this again." We thought it would maybe work for a few tracks, but
we still had our doubts. I was driving home one night, and BBC Scotland was playing a session from King Creosote
where he did a cover of our song The American, and I thought it was brilliant - it
was great. I thought, "We should look and see if he's got something we should cover." I already had a few of his albums,
and there wasn't really anything I thought Simple Minds could do.
"But when he put out his album 'From Scotland with Love' there was this track on it. I thought, "That's a Simple Minds song." I
could hear Simple Minds doing it, and when I spoke to Kenny to see if he would be cool with it - before I had
a chance to put it to him, he said to me "That's my Simple Minds song." He said, "I loved you back in the day, and I
love this element of the band." I told him, "We are going to cover that song one day, but I don't know when." We envisaged
bringing it into the live set and messed around with it a few times during soundchecks, and it sounded great
but we never actually played it live. When it came to
this greatest hits album, I said, "We should have one new track - a
bit of a rallying call, something energetic. And Charlie said, 'What about
For One Night Only?" So that's kind of how it came to be." - Jim, XNoise Interview with Mark Millar, October 2019
The song was finally recorded and finished off in July 2019 for 40: Best Of: 1979-2019. The
full length version was included on the album whilst an edit backed the video.
(A work-in-progress version has a lengthy saxophone solo during the middle-8 but this was replaced with a guitar solo in the final
mix).
lyrics
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Home every Friday,
I hand you the whole thing.
I pocket the small change,
I hide and I save it.
Now it's the weekend,
We're stepping and moving.
We're spending our money.
Come on - celebrate it.
Oh, oh.
Oh, oh.
Let's celebrate it.
For one night only.
First you get several.
Then comes another.
Predictively drunk.
Caught up in the mayhem.
Now it's the weekend.
We're spending our money.
The greatest appearance.
For one night only.
Oh, oh.
Oh, oh.
For one night only.
Stand in the line now.
We're anticipating.
For all of these years.
For one night only.
We're stepping and moving.
Spinning in circles.
Before returning to you.
For one night only.
Heh, heh.
Heh, heh.
Let's celebrate it.
For one night only.
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discography
Album Version (3:47)
Mixed by Ash Howes
Produced by Andy Wright, Gavin Goldberg and Simple Minds
Mixed by Gavin Goldberg
Assisted by Lewis Chapman
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downloads
Album Version (3:47)
Mixed by Ash Howes
Produced by Andy Wright, Gavin Goldberg and Simple Minds
Mixed by Gavin Goldberg
Assisted by Lewis Chapman
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videography
Video Edit (3:06)
Produced by Andy Wright, Gavin Goldberg and Simple Minds
Mixed by Gavin Goldberg
Assisted by Lewis Chapman
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