"Night of the Long Grass" is a song by English rock band the Troggs, released as a single in May 1967. It continued their slight dip in chart performance, though still became their sixth top-twenty hit in the UK.[1]

Background and release

Originally towards the end of April 1967, the next Troggs single was announced as "My Lady" backed with "Girl in Black".[2] However, a week before its release, it was announced that they would be changing the A-side and instead release "Night of the Long Grass" as a single.[3] As "My Lady" was withdrawn so soon before its expected release, according to Reg Presley, around 26,000 copies had already been pressed. It was given a release in South Africa as was also "Night of the Long Grass", with the latter backed with "Hi Hi Hazel".[4][5] "My Lady" was later included on the Troggs album Cellophane and a cover by Jet Harris was released as a single in July 1967.[6][7]

Reviewing for Record Mirror, Peter Jones described "Night of the Long Grass" as "much stronger than the mooted "My Lady" single – in fact, it becomes darned infectious after just a couple of plays. Lyrics worth a close listen, with atmospheric guitar and percussion backing… and the vocal comes through as if hidden behind a wall of bricks or grass or something. Curious vocals sounds behind, too".[8] Guest reviewing for Disc and Music Echo, Dusty Springfield wrote "What a creepy beginning! And a lovely, sexy, sinister vocal from Reg. On first hearing though, it`s not as catchy as some of their others but it`s got lots of nice ideas and their popularity will see it into the chart I`m sure".[9]

Charts