I just listened to Junior Turner’s new song “Tonight’s The Night”. It is certainly a nice tune. I quickly landed on three distinct themes that permeated the experience for me: Nostalgia, Simplicity, and Optimism. I felt it from the song’s first note till its end. It went beyond the lyrics and melodies and stretched into the relationship between the listener and the art form itself. With a polished professionalism in his voice and pleasing music to accompany him, Junior Turner celebrates with “Tonight’s The Night” the idea that sometimes the big moment we’ve always been waiting for is happening right now.
I’ll start with the Nostalgia. The song starts out with a cool sounding guitar and trumpet combo that has that same slow jukebox charm that Amy Winehouse song openers used to offer. It’s the kind of feeling we all, maybe inaccurately, imagine our grandparents slow-dancing to at their high school prom (they kiss, everyone in the photograph is visible again, you know the scene). But the freshness of Junior Turner’s delivery makes that time in our minds feel present instead of bygone. Or At least we hope so. Well, some of us do, sometimes.
Which brings me to Simplicity. The song’s message is refreshingly direct. The singer uses the title phrase to assert to the person he loves that it’s time to take things to the next level, so to speak (by the way, whoever invented the euphemism “to the next level” should win a Clio). The feelings come across as genuine, respectful and generally happy. I really dig that about this song. You can feel that Junior Turner is happy when he’s singing it.
The Segue City Direct is now pulling into “Optimism” Station, my third point of impression with this record. I like what the ideas brought up in this song could mean under a broader interpretation. On the one hand, it deals with the inner workings of one specific relationship with another person. But in another light, I can see it as a metaphor for our internal quest to develop ourselves, our internal relationship, if you will (and in case you won’t, I just did). Whether its career success, better relationships, or just personal happiness, sometimes the way to break down barriers is to make the first move, to believe that it could happen. Junior Turner teaches that optimism with his “Tonight’s the Night” and personally, I like it.
– iLikeZach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4WCVPM32OQ
