Princess of the Night
1981 single by Saxon
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"Princess of the Night" is a single by British heavy metal band Saxon, featured as the opening track and single from their 1981 album Denim and Leather; the song was written as a group production of all five members of the band at the time: Peter "Biff" Byford, Steve Dawson, Pete Gill, Graham Oliver, and Paul Quinn. The lyrics of the song deal with the narrator's affinity of a steam locomotive of the LMS Princess Royal Class.[1]
| "Princess of the Night" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Saxon | ||||
| from the album Denim and Leather | ||||
| Released | 23 October 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, power metal | |||
| Length | 4:01 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriter | Saxon | |||
| Producer | Nigel Thomas | |||
| Saxon singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The single itself peaked in its popularity at 57 on the UK Singles Chart.
Background
Saxon are from Barnsley, an industrial town in north-central England with several railways. According to singer Biff Byford, Barnsley is famous for "bus scrapyards". In 1981, Byford said, "Princess of the Night is a song about a steam train that ends up on the scrapyard."[2]
Later in 1981, Byford added, "Some time ago we used to park our van at Barry Island in Glamorgan. There's a huge compound there where they keep all the old steam trains that they don't use anymore. They're just left to rot and I suppose that upset us because they really were magnificent machines. Well you can't beat the days of steam can you?[3]
"Anyway, late at night if I couldn't sleep I used to look out at those ghostly engines and imagine them painted up and back in their glory. It's my romantic side coming out again."[3]
Personnel
- Biff Byford – vocals
- Paul Quinn – guitars (first guitar solo)
- Graham Oliver – guitars (second guitar solo)
- Steve Dawson – bass
- Pete Gill – drums
