Patti Smith was waiting for a telephone call from Fred “Sonic” Smith. As the evening passed, the call still had not come.
There was a cassette nearby containing a song Bruce Springsteen had started. Producer Jimmy Iovine had given Patti Smith the tape, hoping Patti Smith would find something in it.
That night, while waiting in New York for a call from Detroit, Patti Smith finally gave the recording close attention. The result was “Because the Night,” a song that would carry a private love story far beyond the room where the lyrics were written.
A Relationship Measured in Long-Distance Calls
In 1977, Patti Smith and guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith were maintaining a relationship across two cities. Patti Smith lived in New York; Fred “Sonic” Smith lived in Detroit.
Staying in touch required planning. Speaking at a New Yorker event in 2015, Patti Smith explained that long-distance calls were expensive and money was limited. The couple generally spoke only once a week.
Those conversations mattered. On the evening Patti Smith described, Fred “Sonic” Smith was expected to call around 7:30. Then 8:30 passed, followed by 9:30.
Patti Smith stayed and waited.
The Tape Jimmy Iovine Wanted Patti Smith to Hear
At the time, Patti Smith was working on the album Easter with producer Jimmy Iovine. Bruce Springsteen had been developing “Because the Night,” but the lyrics remained unfinished.
Jimmy Iovine brought the recording to Patti Smith.
In an interview with songwriter and author Paul Zollo, Patti Smith explained that Bruce Springsteen had already supplied the music and the chorus. The recording had a strong musical shape, while the verses contained unfinished vocal ideas.
That left an opening for Patti Smith to bring a personal story into the song.
Initially, the cassette had received little attention. During that long evening, however, Patti Smith picked it up and began listening repeatedly, using the music to occupy the hours of waiting.
A Love Song Written Before the Telephone Rang
The circumstances supplied the emotional direction. Patti Smith was thinking about Fred “Sonic” Smith, feeling the distance between New York and Detroit, and anticipating a conversation that kept getting later.
Listening to Bruce Springsteen’s recording, Patti Smith began writing verses for Fred “Sonic” Smith.
The telephone became part of the finished lyric. Years later, Patti Smith explicitly connected that image to the evening spent waiting for the call. The detail was rooted in an experience Patti Smith remembered clearly enough to describe decades afterward.
According to Patti Smith’s account at the New Yorker event, Fred “Sonic” Smith finally called around midnight. By then, the lyrics were written.
From an Unfinished Recording to a Breakthrough Single
Released in 1978 and included on Easter, “Because the Night” became Patti Smith’s biggest chart hit, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The writing credit belongs to Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith. Understanding the collaboration makes the recording more interesting: Bruce Springsteen’s music and chorus gave the song its foundation, while Patti Smith’s verses connected that foundation to a particular relationship and a particular evening.
Jimmy Iovine’s role also mattered. By passing along the cassette, Jimmy Iovine created the opportunity for those contributions to meet.
The Person Behind the Song
Fred “Sonic” Smith later became Patti Smith’s husband. The relationship that inspired the verses continued beyond the long-distance calls, giving “Because the Night” a lasting place in Patti Smith’s personal history.
In 2015, Patti Smith told the story before performing the song with New Yorker editor David Remnick on guitar. By then, audiences had been hearing “Because the Night” for decades.
Behind that familiar recording was still the same small, recognizable experience: Patti Smith waiting to hear from someone important, finding something to do with the uncertainty, and finishing the words before the telephone finally rang.