Steve Winwood

Released: August 2, 1982

Songwriter: Steve Winwood Will Jennings

Producer: Steve Winwood

High above the heat of a summer New York street
An out-of-work musician plays a solo saxophone
He's a preacher and a teacher
And he stands up all alone

Stranded in the dark of a vision in the park
A poet in his madness tries to find another line
And he's losing and he's using
And he says he's doing fine

And they look from such a height
That somehow it's all right
They're talking back to the night
It's all that they can do
Talking back to the night
It's how they make it through
If you listen you can hear them
Their voices draw you near them
They're talking back to the night for you

Something seems to take every dime the man can make
His dream is getting smaller and he wonders where to turn
And he's trying hard to make it
And he's trying not to burn

Woman never minds, pulls the shade and draws the blinds
She takes him in the darkness where the loneliest can feed
She gives him all she has to
And it's no more than he needs

Steven Lawrence Winwood is most famous for his solo work, including two number one hits Higher Love and Roll with It, and for being the member of two supergroups, Traffic and Blind Faith, along with helping found the Spencer Davis Group at fourteen years old.

Speaking of which, Mozart had nothing on Winwood as a keyboard

As a boy in middle school, little Stevie Winwood played the Hammond synth for Blues gods and Rock & Roll founders like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, when they toured in Britain. We’d list more, but it’s exhausting to link all of those names.

more tracks from the album

Talking Back to the Night

From the albums

Talking Back to the Night (1982)
Chronicles (1987)

Steve Winwood popular songs

Talking Back to the NightSteve Winwood

Steve Winwood

Talking Back to the Night