50-Year-Old Songs: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight

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My prayers are with the people in Oklahoma, facing a rare “high risk” of severe weather today. I sure hope today doesn’t join two other Mondays in Oklahoma history (May 3, 1999 and May 20, 2013) in terms of tornadoes. Before that I’ll sing along with another song that is, wow, now 50 years old. Unreal. Here’s today’s treat from 1974. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight - Richard and Linda Thompson There’s a live version of this where someone in the audience yelled “Bright Lights!” and Richard replied, “I’m going to do a medley of all the songs you just asked for. Actually, this is a medley of our greatest hit.” Of course, that was a long time before “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.” Between his time in Fairport Convention and the glorious solo career Richard Thompson had an equally glorious career with his wife at the time. After their divorce (shortly after the release of the masterpiece Shoot Out the Lights) Linda continued in music as well. In fact, she was nominated for a Grammy for the song “Telling Me Lies” (a rather thinly-veiled slap at her ex-husband), which was a chart-topper for the Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt/Dolly Parton “Trio” project. They have reconciled: Linda has appeared at the Thompson Family Fest, along with Richard and their song Teddy (who has a string of good albums himself). This is a song that celebrates what young 20-something people think the weekend is all about (“a couple of drunken nights rolling on the floor, it’s just the kind of mess I’m looking for”). After 50 years, it still stands tall in Thompson’s discography. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight Written by Richard Thompson Recorded by Richard and Linda Thompson From I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, 1974 The big boys, they’re all spoiling for a fight: