music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Children of the Night" is a song written and recorded by Richard Marx, issued as the sixth and final single from his second album Repeat Offender.[2] The song peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990,[3] and was written in support of the suburban Los Angeles (Van Nuys)-based organization for runaways.[4][5][6]

"Children of the Night"
Single by Richard Marx
from the album Repeat Offender
B-side	"Real World"[1]
Released	1990
Recorded	1989
Genre	Soft rock
Length	4:43 (album version) 4:10 (single version)
Songwriter(s)	Richard Marx
Producer(s)	Richard Marx David Cole
Richard Marx singles chronology
"Too Late to Say Goodbye" (1990) "Children of the Night" (1990) "Keep Coming Back" (1991)

Composition

In a 2018 interview with Songfacts, Marx said:

I was in a hotel room on tour, and I was watching 60 Minutes. There was a piece on this woman, Dr Lois Lee, who created the Children of the Night foundation, and I was just riveted by the story. The next day, I had my manager reach out to Dr Lee. We got on the phone, and I said, "I want to help. I also think that there is a song here. But I can't remotely write this without really researching it." So, when I got off the road, she connected me with three or four of the kids that had been sheltered by the foundation, and had been on the streets – had been prostitutes, drug addicts, in rehab – and had their lives together. I spent a couple of days just hanging out with these kids, and they were very generous with telling me what their lives had been like. So, I wrote the lyric based upon the conversations I had with these kids. And immediately, I knew the only right thing to do was to make all of the proceeds from the song go to the foundation. Luckily, the song was a pretty big hit, and the money generated from it built a whole new shelter in Los Angeles, and I continue to support them to this day.[7]

Track listing

All songs written Richard Marx and produced by Marx and David Cole.

1. "Children of the Night" – 4:10
2. "Real World" [Live at The Palace Theatre] – 4:12

Personnel

• Richard Marx – lead and backing vocals
• Michael Omartian – keyboards, acoustic piano
• C.J. Vanston – keyboards
• Michael Landau – guitars, guitar solo
• Randy Jackson – bass
• Prairie Prince – drums
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion
• Tom Scott – sax solo
• Larry Williams – saxophones
• Gary Grant – trumpet
• Jerry Hey – trumpet
• Dick Marx – horn arrangements
• Shelley Cole – backing vocals
• Kevin Cronin – backing vocals
• Larry Gatlin – backing vocals
• Rudy Gatlin – backing vocals
• Steve Gatlin – backing vocals
• Ruth Marx – backing vocals
• Gene Miller – backing vocals
• Cynthia Rhodes – backing vocals
• Don Shelton – backing vocals
• Terry Williams – backing vocals
• The Children of the Night – choir

Charts

References

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