Tonight We Have the Stars
Encyclopedia
"Tonight We Have the Stars" is a rock
song written by Bryan Adams
, Gretchen Peters
and Jim Vallance
for his tenth studio album
11
(2008). The song's musical-style and production were heavily inspired by rock
and pop music
from the 1980s, and its lyrics
chronicles a relationship. The single was released worldwide on May 30, 2008 and later as a digital single on June 6, 2008. The B-side is a live solo acoustic performance of "Somethin' to Believe In" in Barcelona
, Spain
from his digital UK EP "Live From Barcelona".
and Jim Vallance
. When writing the song, the three e-mailed each others audio files back and forth, with each of them commenting on the song when received. This process continued until the song was completed. As Vallance later wrote on his webpage;
The song was mixed by Bob Clearmountain
at his studio in Los Angeles
. As stated by Vallance: "I was in Canada, Bryan was in Brazil, and Ben Dobie was in England. Give or take a few milliseconds, we were all hearing the mix "live", streaming on a dedicated, encrypted iTunes channel." After each pass of mixing Vallance and Adams would send comments to him on iChat. After giving Clearmountain a comment he would "roll tape" again, and we'd hear the suggested changes unfold in close-to-real time. As stated by Vallance:
;
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
song written by Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
, Gretchen Peters
Gretchen Peters
Gretchen Peters is a singer-songwriter in the folk/country genre. She was born in New York and raised in Boulder, Colorado, but moved to Nashville in the late 1980s...
and Jim Vallance
Jim Vallance
James Douglas "Jim" Vallance, OC is a retired Canadian musician, songwriter, arranger and producer based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known as the former songwriting partner of Canadian international recording artist Bryan Adams...
for his tenth studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
11
11 (Bryan Adams album)
11 is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bryan Adams. The album was released by Polydor Records on March 17, 2008. 11 was the first release of new Adams material since Colour Me Kubrick in 2005 and the first studio album in four years since Room Service...
(2008). The song's musical-style and production were heavily inspired by rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
from the 1980s, and its lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
chronicles a relationship. The single was released worldwide on May 30, 2008 and later as a digital single on June 6, 2008. The B-side is a live solo acoustic performance of "Somethin' to Believe In" in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
from his digital UK EP "Live From Barcelona".
Recording and production
"Tonight We Have the Stars" was written by Adams, Gretchen PetersGretchen Peters
Gretchen Peters is a singer-songwriter in the folk/country genre. She was born in New York and raised in Boulder, Colorado, but moved to Nashville in the late 1980s...
and Jim Vallance
Jim Vallance
James Douglas "Jim" Vallance, OC is a retired Canadian musician, songwriter, arranger and producer based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known as the former songwriting partner of Canadian international recording artist Bryan Adams...
. When writing the song, the three e-mailed each others audio files back and forth, with each of them commenting on the song when received. This process continued until the song was completed. As Vallance later wrote on his webpage;
"This is my 'first draft' of 'Tonight We Have The Stars' (the original "audio email" that I sent to Bryan). It was a quick recording done in my home studio in Vancouver, but Bryan was able to turn this humble snippet into a song."
The song was mixed by Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain is an award-winning American music engineer, mixer and producer. He has worked with many prominent names in music including Bruce Springsteen , The Rolling Stones , Bryan Adams , Robbie Williams Bob Clearmountain is an award-winning American music engineer, mixer and producer. He...
at his studio in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. As stated by Vallance: "I was in Canada, Bryan was in Brazil, and Ben Dobie was in England. Give or take a few milliseconds, we were all hearing the mix "live", streaming on a dedicated, encrypted iTunes channel." After each pass of mixing Vallance and Adams would send comments to him on iChat. After giving Clearmountain a comment he would "roll tape" again, and we'd hear the suggested changes unfold in close-to-real time. As stated by Vallance:
"This might not seem unique to everyone, but for me, considering the technology that existed when I started in the music business nearly 40 years ago, this is like science fiction. I can only imagine where things will be, 40 years from now!"
Reception
The following statement is from a review by Kirk LaPointe, managing editor of The Vancouver SunThe Vancouver Sun
The Vancouver Sun is a daily newspaper first published in the Canadian province of British Columbia on February 12, 1912. The paper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. It is published six days a week, Monday to Saturday...
;
"Arguably the strongest song on 11, Tonight We Have The Stars has a serendipitous quality that speaks volumes about how Bryan works and networks: a lyric from last decade with Gretchen Peters, a new piece of music sent by Vallance and a new melody from Adams. He pulled the pieces off his Mac on an airplane and began mumbling the result to the surprise of his seatmates. Presto, the song that built the foundation for the album".