{"id":876340,"date":"2026-10-09T13:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876340\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:30:11","slug":"a-19-year-old-wrote-what-remains-one-of-the-moody-blues-biggest-hits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876340\/","title":{"rendered":"A 19-Year-Old Wrote What Remains One of The Moody Blues\u2019 Biggest Hits"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1972, The Moody Blues had a big hit with \u201cNights In White Satin<\/a>\u201d. The song, written by band member Justin Hayward, was actually released first in 1967, as part of the band\u2019s sophomore Days Of Future Passed record. The song failed to do well, at least in the United States, when it was first released.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But five years later, in 1972<\/a>, The Moody Blues released \u201cNight In White Satin\u201d again. This time, \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d became a No. 1 hit for The Moody Blues.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cNights In White Satin\u201d says in part, \u201cNights in white satin, never reaching the end \/ Letters I\u2019ve written, never meaning to send \/ Beauty I\u2019d always missed with these eyes before \/ Just what the truth is, I can\u2019t say anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The song\u2019s lyrics are mature, and about an adult relationship. So it\u2019s surprising that Hayward was just 19 years old when he wrote this song.<\/p>\n

The Story Behind \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d by The Moody Blues<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

When \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d was released, Hayward was still relatively new to The Moody Blues, replacing Denny Laine. But the song was actually inspired by Hayward and his somewhat complicated love life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote our most famous song, \u2018Nights in White Satin\u2019 when I was 19,\u201d Hayward says<\/a>. \u201cIt was a series of random thoughts and was quite autobiographical. It was a very emotional time as I was at the end of one big love affair and the start of another. A lot of that came out in the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate interview, Hayward recalls writing \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d, although he admits he thought it was merely a \u201cthrowaway\u201d song at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at the end of a big love affair and at the beginning of another,\u201d he tells Forbes<\/a>. \u201cIt was a series of random thoughts after a gig at three or four in the morning. I\u2019ve written songs and thought, \u2018This is the one,\u2019 and my mother was the only one who bought it. I\u2019m absolutely no judge of what\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although The Moody Blues had other hits after \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d, they never replicated the success of this song again. After \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d was released, The Moody Blues kept it in their setlist for the rest of their career until they disbanded in 2018. They also played \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Photo by Michael Putland\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1972, The Moody Blues had a big hit with \u201cNights In White Satin\u201d. The song, written by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2617,88,368717,216],"class_list":["post-876340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-classic-rock","tag-entertainment","tag-moody-blues","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}