Midnight - a theme

Between 2006 and 2009, Bob Dylan hosted his own weekly program on satellite radio called the Theme Time Radio Hour. According to the website that serves as a repository for these one-hour programs, the programs were a thematical journey through musical history.  The themes could be a single word – “divorce,” “father,” “hello,” “weather,” “baseball,” “money,” and about 100 other themes.  The archive site reads like this – “Covering topics from smoking to presidents, Bob served as curator, educator, philosopher and comedian in our journey through his vast collection of recordings, including some secret gems that had been all-but-lost to us.”  I want to try a theme he hadn’t covered. 

My first choice was the word “Moon,” but to my chagrin he already covered that.  Having searched the archive, I finally came up with a theme Dylan didn’t cover – “Midnight.”  Why “midnight”? Midnight is the time on the Doomsday Clock when the world will succumb to some man-made catastrophe, like a nuclear war.  The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary identifies midnight as the time when witches are supposedly active. Traditionally referred to as the witching hour and the darkest part of night--midnight is more than a number on the clock, more than just the end of one day and the beginning of another. In blues parlance, it’s a time of intense sadness.  Cinderella had to be home before midnight, lest her carriage turn back into a pumpkin. You get the idea. Good things don’t happen at midnight.

I made only two rules for myself: 1) the songs have to be in my collection; 2) one song per artist.  Here’s my hour [roughly] of “midnight” songs:

Midnight Rider – The Allman Brothers Band

2 Minutes to Midnight – Iron Maiden

Living After Midnight – Judas Priest

After Midnight – Eric Clapton

Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and the Pips

In the Midnight Hour – Wilson Pickett

Midnight Rambler – The Rolling Stones

Isn’t It Midnight – Fleetwood Mac

The Midnight Special – Creedence Clearwater Revival

South City Midnight Lady – The Doobie Brothers

Midnight Sun – Asia

Midnight – Red Hot Chili Peppers

Midnight at the Movies – Justin Townes Earle

Midnight Blues – Gary Moore

Moanin’ at Midnight – Howlin’ Wolf