Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions! Chris Moore and I got together to record our duo version of “Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues — watch the video here.
About “Nights in White Satin”
Written by Justin Hayward, “Nights in White Satin” first appeared on the Moody Blues’ landmark 1967 album Days of Future Passed. Reissued as a single in 1972, it climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the band’s signature song, famous for its sweeping orchestration and dreamlike mood.
Taking on a song this iconic as a duo was a real honor — there’s no orchestra here, just Chris and me, so we leaned into the melody and the mood that make the song so timeless. I hope our version does it justice.
Well, in the world of Moody Blues songs, it doesn’t get much more popular than “Nights in White Satin”, written by the great Justin Hayward.
I wanted to do this classic song for the Laptop Sessions music video blog because I thought it would translate well to a solo acoustic performance. I hope you like my whistling flute solo! 🙂 I wasn’t gonna do it, but Chris and Becky egged me on, and I think I nailed it!!
I love the vocal exercise this song presents and I’ve always thought that Justin Hayward has one of the best singing voices ever. He’s also one of the greatest songwriters ever and can play an amazing guitar. As with most of my favorite musicians and songwriters, Justin Hayward doesn’t get the credit he deserves for his incredible talents. His acoustic guitar work on songs like “Question” haven’t been reproduced since. And his electric guitar work gets almost no attention, even though it’s amazing. Have you heard the guitar on “Story in Your Eyes”? It’s face-meltingly awesome! The tone he gets and his style of playing belie the calm and proper British personality he portrays. Well, even if Justin Hayward (or the Moody Blues as a band, for that matter) doesn’t get the credit he/they deserves, I’m still glad I can share some of his greatness with you, my loyal Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song watchers.
So, this is a high bar to rise above, but I’m such a big Moody Blues fan that I know the song backwards and forwards. It would be great to record a version of this someday, but honestly, how can I improve upon perfection? I think I’ll stick to classic songs like this on solo acoustic guitar for my posts here on the music blog.
