GLADYS KNIGHT - HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT

HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT

GLADYS KNIGHT

SONGWRITER: KRIS KRISTOFFERSON

COUNTRY: U.S.A.

ALBUM: STANDING OVATION

LABEL: MOTOWN RECORDS

GENRE: COUNTRY BALLAD

YEAR: 1972

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" is a country music ballad written and composed by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 1970 album Kristofferson.

Though it was also recorded in 1971 by Elvis Presley, four others recorded it in 1971: Joan Baez for her album Blessed Are... (July 1971), Gladys Knight & The Pips in 1972, Bryan Ferry for his album Another Time, Another Place (October 1974), Jerry Lee Lewis, who did a bluesy version for his album Touching Home, and country singer Sammi Smith, whose recording of the song is the most commercially successful and most well-known version in the United States. Smith's recording ranks among the most successful country singles of all time in terms of sales, popularity and radio airplay. Her recording topped the country singles chart, and was also a crossover hit, reaching number eight on the U.S. pop singles chart.

Other American singers, including Dottie West, also recorded the song throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. The most successful version, after Smith's, was recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1972 (this version was later sampled extensively to create Huff and Puff's 1996 dance track "Help Me Make It").

I’m imagining a lot of happy people

And most of you are with someone you love

Well you are the lucky ones

All over the world there are

Lots of people who are alone tonight

I imagine most of us have been in that situation

At some time or another I know I have

Recently I heard a most beautiful song, with a

Dynamic lyric that really expresses

This feeling of loneliness

It means a lot to me personally

And I’d like to share it with you

I think you’ll see what I mean

Take the ribbon from my hair

Shake it loose and let it fall

Laying soft against your skin

Like the shadows on a wall

Come and lay down by my side

To the early mornin' light

All I'm taking is your time

Help me make it through the night

I don't care what's right or wrong

And I won't try to understand

Let the Devil take tomorrow

Oh, tonight I need a friend

Yesterday is dead and gone

And tomorrow's out of sight

And it's so sad to be alone

Help me make it through the night

Lord, it's so sad to be alone

Help me make it through the night

Leave me through the night

Come on and take me through the night

Night