Shot Down in the Night

Infobox Single
Name = Shot Down in the Night


Type = Single
Artist = Hawkwind
from Album = Live Seventy Nine
B-side = "Urban Guerilla"
Recorded = November, 1979
Released = 27 June 1980
Format = 7" Vinyl record
Genre = Space Rock
Length = 4:15
Label = Bronze Records - BRO98
Writer = Steve Swindells
Producer = Ashley Howe and Hawkwind
Certification =
Chart position = UK#59
Last single = "25 Years" (1979)
This single = "Shot Down in the Night" (1980)
Next single = "Who's Gonna Win The War?" (1980)Infobox Single
Name = Shot Down in the Night
Type = Single
Artist = Steve Swindells
from Album = Fresh Blood
B-side = "It's Only One Night of Your Life"
Recorded = 1979
Released = 27 June 1980
Format = 7" Vinyl record
Genre = Rock music
Length = 5:12
Label = ATCO – K11532
Writer = Steve Swindells
Producer = Steve Swindells
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = "Energy Crisis" (1974)
This single = "Shot Down in the Night" (1980)
Next single = "Turn It On, Turn It Off" (1981)

"Shot Down in the Night" is a 1979 song written by Steve Swindells, who was at that time keyboardist with the UK rock group Hawkwind. Swindells and Hawkwind released different versions of the song as a single on 27 June 1980. Hawkwind's version reached #59 in the UK singles chart, being a slightly different version to the one on the album Live Seventy Nine.

The song was written by Steve Swindells while rehearsing with Hawkwind (then working under the name "Hawklords") at Rockfield Studios in 1979. He presented it to the band, and they agreed on its potential as a future single. However, Swindells was then offered a solo record deal by ATCO, and left Hawkwind to pursue a solo career. His studio version of "Shot Down in the Night" was released as a single on the same day as Hawkwind's live version.

Swindells claims that his version was "waaay harder, more dramatic and simply better than Hawkwind’s version. In both the battle of the butch and the artistic, the queer won." [ [http://www.dayum.co.uk/ daynum] – Swindells blog site] Despite that claim, Simon King (drums) and Huw Lloyd-Langton (guitars) played on both recordings, giving the two versions a musical closeness, although Swindells' gruff vocals perhaps make his version heavier than Dave Brock's folky vocal on Hawkwind's version.

References