There is a television advertisement for gin which uses the music of The Night, a song by Franki Valli and the Four Season’s that was a top ten hit in the spring of 1975. In the advertisement the night that comes is a time of fireworks and celebratory drinks. Unless the lyrics have changed entirely in the decades since its release, the use of the song to advertise gin seems an odd choice.

Remembering the song from those times, there was an unmistakable awareness that the song had a sinister tone. Night time in the song is not a time for pyrotechnics and sharing gin it is a time of which to be wary, a time of menace, a time of fear.

Beware of his promise
Believe what I say
Before the night is ending
Be sure of what you’re saying

Cause he paints a pretty picture
And he tells you that he loves you
And he covers you with roses
And he always keeps you dreaming
If he always keeps you dreaming
You won’t have a lonely hour
If the day could last forever
You might like your ivory tower

But the night begins to turn your head around
And you know you’re gonna lose more than you found.

She stepped away from me
And she moved through the Fair
And fondly I watched her
Move here and move there
And she went her way homeward
With one star awake
As the swans in the evening
Move over the lake

The people were saying
No two e’er were wed
But one has a sorrow
That never was said
And she smiled as she passed me
With her goods and her gear
And that was the last
That I saw of my dear.