Ellen Foley is a singer you might know even if you don’t know her name. You might remember her as public defender Billie Young (possible love interest for Judge Harry Anderson) in the second season of the original Night Court TV series. (She was subsequently replaced by the longer-lasting Markie Post.) Or maybe you know her as the libidinous female singer accompanying Meat Loaf on “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” (lip-synched by Karla DeVito in the popular video). Or maybe you don’t remember her at all.
In any case, back in 1979 Ms. Foley recorded and released her first solo album, titled Night Out. It was produced and arranged by Mick Ronson and Ian Hunter, of David Bowie and Mott the Hoople fame, and it reflects the glam and bombast of the time. It’s an over-the-top record, with a similar late-70s Wall of Sound feel as her work with Meat Loaf (no surprise there), but man, does Ellen have the pipes to carry it. The music on Night Out is powerful, theatrical, histrionic, knock-you-in-your gut power pop. It’s mainly an album of covers, with my favorite tracks being “What’s a Matter Baby,” “Stupid Girl,” “Sad Song,” “Thunder and Rain,” and today’s classic song of the day, “We Belong to the Night.”
“We Belong to the Night’ was written by Ellen Foley and rock journalist Fred Goodman. Epic Records released it as a single but it failed to chart here in the States. Elsewhere, “We Belong to the Night” went to #15 in Australia, #7 in South Africa, and #1 in the Netherlands. Here’s what Ms. Foley remembers about writing the song:
“I wrote that with a guy named Fred Goodman. We were in a room in my apartment that faced Broadway. New York was pretty gritty then. I was always inspired by Aretha Franklin’s version of ‘Spanish Harlem,’ which really evoked the romance of the city.”
The song is an admittedly over-produced, dramatic rock ballad, complete with over-the-top guitar solo (by Mick Ronson) and thundering tom fills. You can’t help but like it.
Despite Foley’s association with the uber-popular Meat Loaf and his Bat Out of Hell album, Night Out really didn’t go anywhere. It should have, it’s a perfect encapsulation of a certain time and a certain sound. It’s kind of like Pat Benatar meets Jim Steinman, if you can imagine something like that. I like playing it really loud, because that’s the way it should be played. You should check it out.
Night Out, unfortunately, did not lead to unlimited fame and fortune for Ms. Foley. That said, since then she’s continued to sing and act, both on Broadway and off. Her latest album is Fighting Words, released in 2021. She’s currently 74 years old.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, we have Ellen Foley’s official music video for “We Belong to the Night.” How could this not have been a big hit?
