We've Got Tonite
"We've Got Tonite" is a song written by American rock music artist Bob Seger, from his album "Stranger in Town" (1978). The single record charted twice for Seger, and was developed from a prior song that he had written. Further versions charted in 1983 for Kenny Rogers as a duet with Sheena Easton, and again in 2002 for Ronan Keating. Original version. Background. The song developed from an earlier Seger composition titled "This Old House" which featured the same chords as "We've Got Tonite" although the earlier song had a slightly different melody. Seger  overhauled "This Old House" into "We've Got Tonite" the day after seeing the film "The Sting" (1973) which features a conversation between the Robert Redford character and a woman he's attracted to played by Dimitra Arliss who says: "I don't even know you': Redford's response: "You know me. It's two in the morning and I don't know nobody", caused an emotional response in Seger manifested in the overhauled song lyrics. "We've Got Tonite" was not recorded until the 1976 sessions for Seger's album "Night Moves" and was held off that album as  Seger felt it was not a thematic fit. It was one of five "Stranger..." tracks recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and Venetta Fields, Clydie King and Shirley Matthews provided the backing vocals. "We've Got Tonite" served as the album's third single, reaching No. 13 on the US pop charts in 1978. It also played in the background of Melissa Sue Anderson's television film "Survival of Dana" (1979), in a scene where Anderson's character was in Los Angeles visiting one of her new friends' homes and was in a room  with co-star Robert Carradine's character 'Donny Davis', whom she was falling for. In the UK, the original version would chart twice, reaching No. 41 in 1979, and then reaching No. 22 as a 1995 re-release—as "We've Got Tonight"—to promote a "Greatest Hits" album: in 1982, a live version—titled "We've Got Tonite"—from the in-concert album "Nine Tonight" reached No. 60 in the UK. Since the death of his mother Charlotte, Seger has made a point of always including "We've Got Tonite" in his live setlist, as it was her favorite of Seger 's compositions. Personnel. Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Seger's 1994 "Greatest Hits" compilation. Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section Additional musicians Reception. "Billboard Magazine" described "We've Got Tonite" as a "melodic ballad featuring Seger's smokey and tender vocal" and said that the structure of the melody was similar to Rod Stewart's "Tonight's the Night." "Cash Box" called it a "sensitive ballad" with "stark opening tambourine beat, strings and strong upward swell" and praised Seger's vocals as well as the "brightness" provided by the backing vocals. Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton version. Background. In  1983, American country-pop star Kenny Rogers recorded the song as a duet with Scottish pop star Sheena Easton, and made it the title track of his album "We've Got Tonight". Both Rogers and Easton were on the roster of EMI America-Liberty Records and their collaboration on "We've Got Tonight" was at the firm suggestion of label chairman Larry Mazza who hoped to restore Easton to chart ascendancy. Mazza was also the president of Capitol Records the label of release for the Bob Seger original. Rogers stated: "I liked the idea of recording with Sheena. I thought  the contrast in styles--I'm so throaty and she's so trained and pure--would really work well." - Rogers himself phoned Easton to pitch their duet on December 23, 1982. The two singers then met up on Christmas Eve to rehearse the song with a piano, six days later going into the studio, with the completed track going to radio nine days after that. Easton would assert that it was the song choice which appealed to her, while allowing Rogers to be "a good singer with a distinctive voice" who she found "always helpful and co-operative" in the studio , debunking insider reports that the ten-day recording session for the track was a stormy one with Rogers overtly disliking Easton's high-pitched vocals. Easton's contribution to the track would prove a bone of critical contention: whereas "Rolling Stone" critic Chris Connelly would dismiss the Easton/Rogers duet of "We've Got Tonight" as "shrieking [and] insensitive", and "Jerseyite" critic Jim Bohen would lament how Rogers "who usually sounds good duetting with women" was defeated by "Easton's nails-across-the-blackboard voice", Dennis Hunt ("Los Angeles Times") would prefer the Rogers/Easton take to the Seger original  due to a "very appealing" "blend of sharply contrasting voices, his deep and hers very high" adding that "Rogers, never known for his vocal power, stretches to match Easton, [attaining] his finest vocal performance", and AllMusic critic Joe Viglione would opine that Easton's "splendid voice reaching the high registers over Kenny's familiar monotone...really makes [the track] special." A number one hit on the Billboard Country Singles chart, "We've Got Tonight" reached number six on the "Billboard" Hot 100 pop singles chart, and number two on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, also reaching the top 30 in  the United Kingdom. Rebranded as a Country & Western song due to the Rogers/Easton duet, "We've Got Tonight" would be honored by ASCAP as the Most Performed Country Song of 1983, with Seger, an iconic Detroit rocker, personally acknowledging the honor by attending the October 1984 ASCAP Country Music Awards fête held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. In Brazil the single has exceeded 100,000 copies. Ronan Keating duet version. Background. "We've Got Tonight" was remade by Irish singer Ronan Keating and Scottish singer Lulu for Lulu's twelfth studio album, "Together" (2002), with the track also appearing  on Keating's second studio album, "Destination" (2002). The "Together" album, consisting of tracks pairing Lulu with a variety of "name" duet partners, was a comeback vehicle for Lulu designed by top entertainment impresario Louis Walsh, whom the singer had signed on with in 2000. Three of the acts the album paired Lulu with—Samantha Mumba, Westlife, and Keating—were protégées of Walsh; however, Keating has said that Lulu herself recruited him to duet with her, stating, "I said 'Yeah, as long as you let me pick the song!' I picked...one of my all-time favorite love songs". Both  the "Together" and "Destination" albums were released in the spring of 2002; it was decided to forego any single releases of off "Together", but after two earlier singles, Keating's label Polydor issued "We've Got Tonight"—credited to Ronan Keating featuring Lulu—on November 25, 2002, and it debuted at its No. 4 peak on the UK Singles Chart on December 1, 2002. The track was also an international hit, reaching No. 7 in the Netherlands, No. 10 in Ireland, No. 12 in Australia, and No. 14 in Flanders. Polydor Records decided to release a reformatted version of the track  that replaced Lulu's vocal with that of Jeanette Biedermann, a Polydor artist who had enjoyed considerable success with English-language releases in her native Germany and also Austria and Switzerland. This version of the duet was issued in those three nations with resultant top-ten peaks in Austria and Germany and a No. 25 peak in Switzerland. In Italy, the track was issued with Italian soul singer Giorgia Todrani and published as the B-side of Giorgia's single "Gocce di memoria", and in the Philippines, Keating performed the song with Kyla. Track listings. UK single German single Italian  single Charts. Ronan Keating and Lulu. Weekly charts Year-end charts Ronan Keating and Jeanette. Weekly charts Year-end charts Other versions. "We've Got Tonight" also played in the background of Melissa Sue Anderson's television film "Survival of Dana" (1979), in a scene where Anderson's character was in Los Angeles visiting one of her new friends' homes and was in a room with co-star Robert Carradine's character Donny Davis, whom she was falling for. In Season 4, episode 4 of the television series "Ray Donovan", Liev Schreiber sings a karaoke version of the song, then  a reprise to his wife as the episode ends. The song has also been recorded by Rein Alexander (duet with Trine Rein) (album "Song For You"/ 2007), Bill Anderson (album "Nashville Mirrors"/ 1980), Anne Lise (album "First Dance"/ 2006), Patti Austin (album "Body Language"/ 1980), Shirley Bassey (album, The Show Must Go On 1996), Elkie Brooks (album "Nor More the Fool"/ 1986: 1987 UK chart single@No. 67), Rhonda Burchmore (album "Midnight Rendezvous"/ 2001), Rita Coolidge (as "...Tonite": duet with Jermaine Jackson) (album "Never Let You Go"/ 1983), Dozi & Nianell (album "It Takes Two"/ 2009), Allison Durbin (album "Country Love Songs"/  1983), Ray Dylan (duet with Charlize Berg ) (album "Goeie Ou Country in Duet"/ 2013), Adam Harvey & Beccy Cole (album "The Great Country Song Book Volume II"/ 2017), (album Richie Havens (album "Connections"/ 1980), Steven Houghton (album "Steven Houghton"/ 1997), Tom Jones (album "Mr Jones"/ 2002), Reg Livermore (album "Livermore's Firing Squad"/ 1983), Barry Manilow (album "Summer of '78"/ 1996), Jane McDonald (album "The Singer of Your Song"/ 2014), Melanie (album "Moments From My Life"/ 2002), Angelika Milster (duet with Steve Barton) (album "Ich bin wie ich bin"/ 1984), Chord Overstreet (multi-artist album "Muscle Shoals...Small Town, Big Sound"/  2018), Marti Pellow (album "Love to Love"/ 2011), Tex Perkins & His Ladyboyz (album "No.1's & No.2's"/ 2008), Lee Towers & Anita Meyer (album "Run to Me"/ 1985), Conway Twitty (as "...Tonite") (album "Heart & Soul"/ 1980), and Dottie West (as "...Tonite") (album "Special Delivery"/ 1980) Michael McDonald also performed a cover of this song, according to Debby and Tony. "American Idol" Season 11 contestant and eventual winner Phillip Phillips performed "We've Got Tonight" on the series episode broadcast May 16, 2012: his studio recording of the song appeared on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 97. Sheena Easton also recorded a  Spanish-language version of "We've Got Tonight" entitled "La Noche Y Tú" on her 1984 Spanish-language album "Todo Me Recuerda A Ti", the track being a duet with Dyango. The song has also been rendered as "Grazie perché" which as recorded by Amii Stewart and Gianni Morandi was a No. 5 hit in Italy in 1984 and as "Všímej si víc" recorded in 1983 by Věra Špinarová and Karel Černoch : another Czech rendering of the song: "Čas dál nech spát", was recorded in 2012 by David Deyl and Helena Vondráčková, being a new track included on Vondráčková's  3-CD compilation " Helena (nejen) o lásce".