Rod Stewart – Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)

“Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)” – Single by Rod Stewart from the album A Night on the Town
B-side: “The Ball Trap” (UK); “Fool for You” (US)
Released: May 1976 (International); September 1976 (US)
Label: Riva (UK); Warner Bros. (US)
Songwriter: Rod Stewart
Producer: Tom Dowd

Britt Ekland starred in the video as the object of Stewart’s seduction, although we never see her face in the clip. the video is very literal, as we see the couple go upstairs and start the lovemaking process.

Like many of Stewart’s early videos, it was directed by Bruce Gowers. Stewart was an early adopter to music video; he made many of them in the ’70s that were broadcast on various programs throughout Europe, often truncated as promotional clips. When MTV went on the air in 1981, Stewart got a lot of airtime because they had more videos from him than from any other artist.

The song was originally banned by the BBC and protested by Reverend Jesse Jackson, due to its suggestive lyric: “C’mon angel, my heart’s on fire/Don’t deny your man’s desire/You’d be a fool to stop this tide/Spread your wings and let me come inside.” Some radio stations play edits of the song, shortening the coda, as well as the whispers, because they were deemed to be too suggestive for airplay, where the songs could be banned from being played on the air.

Official video for Rod Stewart – “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright)” from ‘A Night On The Town’ (1976)