Just Another Night starts with a punchy drum intro by Weinberg, Ian's spoken count, and the signature piano flare up as the song chronicles one of the best-known stories about Ian's storied career. The song is about the 1973 night with Mott The Hoople when he spent a night in the Indianapolis jail after mouthing off to an off duty sergeant, an Indiana State Trooper at a Holiday Inn hotel. Ian resided with a Black Panther staring at him all night while this was their only off the road time and Ariel Bender got to imbibe refreshments and a cozy hotel bed while Ian was preoccupied. Upon release, early the next morning, no one recognized the shadeless Hunter although court people were talking about their gig.
Ian notes that the song may have been a hit since Roy Bittan, the keyboardist, heard it as a commercial release but Hunter and Ronson talked him out of it. As an early alternative, a Springsteen-like slow version entitled, "The Other Side of Life," could have been a popular hit but as revved up by Hunter-Ronson it was less commercial.
The Hunter and Ronson revved up version provided for a co-writing trade since Ian wanted the scrawled phrase "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic" found on a bog wall at Wessex Sound Studios, the same place Ian produced Billy Idol's Generation X; Mick gave up the phrase for the LP title and earned co-writing credit.
The versions of the song also have one of the most disparate releases in Hunter's catalog. Originally on You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, when re-released there was bonus material with an interesting early take which features radically different lyrics, showing how such a standard song can develop from the initial germ of an idea to the finished product. Moreover, there was an electric version as an early download-only on the 30th Anniversary mp3 issue not found on the CD, a separate electric version was on two later compilations (Tilting the Mirror), two different versions of varying lengths from 1979, the Rockpalast version, Dr. Pepper version, the smoking release from Rick Derringer and Friends, a 1989 release, and finally one from 2004.
Ian Hunter On Track for Sonicbond Publishing, TheDoctorOfDigital@pm.me
At 36:50 the song starts on the Derringer version:
https://youtu.be/NvQ79Bx26rs
Just Another Night
(Ian Hunter/Mick Ronson)
Oh no, the fuzz, all in a line
My oh my, I think I'm gonna die
And it's just another night
It's just another night
Got a long black face; Who goes there?
All the reefer madness put a poor kid in jail
And it's just another night
Yeah, it's just another night
Oh take it easy boy or it's DOA
Chrome on my body and a lot of folks say
That it's just another night
Hey, it's just another night
Oh, it's just another night on the other side of life
Head one's a saw-bones and he wrecked my chair
Said "How'd you like to do it in a room downstairs"
And it's just another night
Oh, just another night
Hey now, Papa Joe, Don't you pull my hair
All this intrigue, it gets me out of my league
And it's just another night
It's just another night
His old man spent a fortune just to get him in
But baby boy growed up just as stupid as him
And it's just another night
It's just another night
It's just another night on the other side of life
Just another night, hung down slow
I don't like the hotel let me go
Hells bells! Give me a chance!
This rock 'n' roller don't wanna dance
Just another night
Just another night
Well, it's just another night on the other side of life
I never felt so bad; Where's my shades?
It's gonna be a long one getting crazed
A head spoutin' noodles said, "What do you plead?"
I said "You ain't got to touch a man to make a man bleed"
'N' it's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night (on the other side)
It's just another night!
| Just Another Night (electric) | 5:14 | An early download-only version of Just Another Night is on the 30th Anniversary mp3 issue of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic (download only - not on CD). This is (as of June 2019) unavailable elsewhere. |
| The Other Side of Life | 4:42 | This early version of Just Another Night was originally released on the 2009 (30th anniversary) and 2016 (box set) issues of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic. It can also be found on From the Knees of My Heart. |
Ian Hunter LP/CD: "You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic"
Sleeve and track listing
CHRX 1214 / 50999 698134 2 9.
Sleeve variations
The US CD sleeve
The original UK sleeve
Review
Ian came back after a two-year absence in 1979 with this album. Mick Ronson was back on guitar, and Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band were the backing musicians (they had just worked on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell album).
This is a brilliant album, and the yardstick by which all his other work is judged. From the opening beat of Just Another Night to the closing strains of The Outsider there isn't a bad track on here. Mixing full-tilt rockers (Cleveland Rocks, Life After Death) with sensitive ballads (Ships) the album is well-paced and leaves the listener wanting more.
This was issued on CD on Chrysalis in the UK in 1994, and on Razor & Tie in the USA in 1995. The UK release was a limited-edition "25th Anniversary" edition, in a long (blue) box, with a blue jewel-case and booklet (which was about Chrysalis generally, not Ian). Sound quality is very good. No bonus tracks.
1999 saw this CD reissued in the UK, this time on the EMI label as part of their "Classic Rock" series. It boasted new sleeve notes, and improved (remastered) sound quality.
2009 saw a 2-CD issue with a wealth of bonus tracks and a second disc of previously-unreleased live material. As a live document the second disc works very well, despite being recorded at a variety of venues.
Of the bonus material on the first disc perhaps the most interesting is the early version of Just Another Night which features radically different lyrics, showing how such a classic song can develop from the initial germ of an idea to the finished product.
| Just Another Night | 4:36 | Originally released on You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, also on the compilations The Best of Ian Hunter, The Collection, From The Knees Of My Heart, The Golden Age 1969-1997, Old Records Never Die and Shades of Ian Hunter. See also The Other Side of Life. |
| Just Another Night (electric) | 5:14 | An early download-only version of Just Another Night is on the 30th Anniversary mp3 issue of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic (download only - not on CD). This is (as of June 2019) unavailable elsewhere. |
| Just Another Night (electric) | 4:29 | Another 'electric' version of Just Another Night can be found on From The Knees Of My Heart and Tilting The Mirror - Rarities (box set only). This is significantly different from the download-only version. |
| Just Another Night (live 5-11th November 1979) | 5:39 | This live version (recorded at The Roxy, Los Angeles CA) was released on Welcome to the Club, and on the compilation From The Knees Of My Heart. The original LP and 1994 CD are longer (at 6:03) due to extended crowd noise between Just Another Night and Cleveland Rocks. |
| Just Another Night (live 22nd November 1979) | 7:51 | This live version (recorded Hammermith Odeon, London England) is on the 30th Anniversary issue of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, and on If You Wait Long Enough For Anything, You Can Get It On Sale (box set only). The version on If You Wait Long Enough... is longer (at 7:51) than the version on Schizophrenic... (at 5:30) due to the entire middle section (where the audience, lead by Ian, sings "just another night... on the other side...") being omitted from the latter. |
| Just Another Night (live 19th April 1980) | 7:24 | This live version (recorded Rockpalast TV Show, Grugahalle, Essen Germany) was originally issued on Live At Rockpalast (not on the box set) |
| Just Another Night (live 11th September 1981) | 7:04 | This live version (recorded Dr. Pepper Music Festival, Pier 84, New York NY) was originally issued on the Ian Hunter Rocks video (VHS/Laserdisc only). The video (DVD) can also be found on It Never Happened (box set only); the audio can be found on From The Knees Of My Heart (not on the box set). |
| Just Another Night (live 13th September 1981) | 6:33 | This live version (with Rick Derringer, recorded at The Palladium, New York NY) is on Rick Derringer And Friends. |
| Just Another Night (live 15th February 1989) | 5:41 | This live version (recorded The Dominion, London England) was released on BBC Live in Concert. |
| Just Another Night (live 28th May 2004) | 5:36 | This live version (recorded The Astoria, London England) was released on The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nuthin' But The Truth and on Behind The Shades and Greatest Hits Live In London. Not on the box set. |