# In the Heat of the Night and Oh! Darling **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 27, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-heat-of-the-night-and-oh-darling/943035 "2021-05-27T12:44:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-heat-of-the-night-and-oh-darling/943035/1 "2021-05-27T12:44:12Z")
Music composed by Quincy Jones for the film in 1967, lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman and of course Ray Charles and his backup singers deliver some extraordinary vocals. What a great song it is! I’ve always liked it a lot, although I think I only listened to it when watching the film because I’m pretty sure the single didn’t get much airplay when I listened to the radio 30 or 40 years ago. I remembered it last night and listened at least a dozen times, especially after I figured out the lyrics. I’d post them here, because what’s online is pretty much a mess, but I’m not sure if that would be considered copyright infringement on the SDMB (it it’s not, I’ll post them). Beautiful, inpiring lyrics. I read online that the producers or somebody insisted that the words “all mean and white” were going to cause trouble and that the Bergmans changed the line to “all mean and bright.” I’m posting this so that someone else can have as much fun as I did last night and also because I think the musical style sounds very similar to that of The Beatles’ Oh! Darling (1969), which has been discussed here before. I’ve read that Billy Preston is playing organ on the Ray Charles recordings. Have a listen and tell us what you think! Ray Charles single: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gUulr8w3FPY/hqdefault.jpg "RAY CHARLES - IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUulr8w3FPY) The soundtrack (sounds more polished): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LlZ97lhc8zc/maxresdefault.jpg "In The Heat Of The Night (1967) Soundtrack - Quincy Jones") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlZ97lhc8zc) The Beatles’ Oh! Darling: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9BznFjbcBVs/maxresdefault.jpg "Oh! Darling (Remastered 2009)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BznFjbcBVs) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-heat-of-the-night-and-oh-darling/943035/2 "2021-05-27T14:23:12Z")
Sorry, I’m more fascinated with the punch-out on the Demonstration Record; never seen that before. Nifty! ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-heat-of-the-night-and-oh-darling/943035/3 "2021-05-27T19:37:42Z")
> [@alovem](#): > > What a great song it is! Too true ! 👍 ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2021, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-heat-of-the-night-and-oh-darling/943035/4 "2021-05-28T15:12:04Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Too true ! Innit, though? 😀 And what a refrain. I kind of forget about it, and every time it comes around I have to sing along: _In the HEAT_…” The chords are really interesting, too. I’m surprised this thread hasn’t gotten more responses. Maybe most of you have heard the song more often than I have. Oh well. Do yourselves a favor and check out the lyrics!