by Benny Mardones
Summer 1980
If you were listening to the radio at all during the mid- to late- Summer of 1980, then you must remember hearing - many times - the overwrought vocals of the top 40 hit 'Into the Night' by New York City singer-songwriter Benny Mardones. The song was a single from Mardones' 1980 album Never Run, Never Hide.
She's just sixteen years old
Leave her alone, they say
Separated by fools
Who don't know what love is yet
But I want you to know
I never saw it (MTV didn't exist at the time) but there was a video to the song.........!
You owe it to yourself to view it.......it features a flying carpet..?! on which Benny and his young love make out......!!!!
The video is low-budget and cheesy by today's standards, but that's part of its immeasurable charm......was there ever any more articulate and memorable a song to communicate the deep angst and emotional turmoil of Teen Love ?!
If I could fly, I'd pick you up
I'd take you into the night
And show you a love
Ooh, if I could fly
The story of 'Into the Night' has an interesting coda....in the Summer of 1989, a re-release of the song, as well as a re-recording Mardones did for his 1980 album Benny Mardones, again hit the charts. 'Into the Night' remains one of the few songs to ever hit the Billboard Top 20 twice.
An audio documentary, in which Mardones relates the inspiration for the song, can be accessed here.
And I would wait till the end of time for you
And do it again, it's true
I can't measure my love
There's nothing to compare it to
But I want you to know
If I could fly, I'd pick you up
I'd take you into the night
And show you a love
Ooh, if I could fly
I'd pick you up
I'd take you into the night
And show you a love
Like you've never seen, ever seen
Yeah, ooh
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