Ten Favorite Wild Songs: Wild Night (#10)

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And the crowd goes wild!!! for wild songs!!! No, these aren't songs to make you wild, but rather songs that have the word "wild" in the title. Here we go with the first song in the countdown, a certified classic. #10: Wild Night - Van Morrison it's time to play JJ's favorite game, "Six Degrees of Sammy Hagar"!! This one is pretty easy. As you probably know (and if you don't, start reading JJ's daily countdown of albums!!), the Red Rocker, prior to being in Chickenfoot and Sam Halen, was in the band Montrose. The lead guitarist and namesake of that band was Ronnie Montrose. Guess who played guitar on this song? Van Morrison is a legend. If he'd only made those three albums in the late 60s/early 70s (Astral Weeks, Moondance, and this one), he'd still have accomplished more than a lot of acts could have done in 300 years, let alone three. Throw in other albums like St. Dominic's Preview and you've got some great, great music. Here Morrison put his spin on the Stax/Philly soul sound, complete with Montrose on guitar, and turned out a song that was much better than its "top 40" chart position (#28) would indicate. This has been covered lots of times, including by John Cameron Swayze Cougar Mellencamp Schwartz (a Weird Al joke) and country singer Martina McBride (no, no, no), but there's nothing like the original. Even without the Sammy Hagar connection. Wild Night Written by Van Morrison Recorded by Van Morrison From Tupelo Honey, 1971 Everything looks so complete: