This Flight Tonight

"This Flight Tonight"
"This Flight Tonight"
	Cover of the 1973 German single
Single by Nazareth
from the album Loud 'n' Proud
B-side	"Called Her Name"
Released	October 1973
Genre	Hard rock
Label	Mooncrest
Songwriter	Joni Mitchell
Producer	Roger Glover
Nazareth singles chronology
Video
	"This Flight Tonight" (Austrian TV, 1975) on YouTube

"This Flight Tonight"
"This Flight Tonight"
Song by Joni Mitchell
from the album Blue
Released	22 June 1971
Genre	Folk
Length	2:51
Label	Reprise
Songwriter	Joni Mitchell
Producer	Joni Mitchell
Official audio
	"This Flight Tonight" on YouTube

"This Flight Tonight" is a song originally by Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. Scottish hard rock band Nazareth released the song as a single in 1973 that charted internationally.

Original recording

Joni Mitchell wrote and released the song on her 1971 album Blue. The song tells of Mitchell's regrets as she leaves her lover on a flight and wishes to return. The track was also released as the B-side of "Carey".^[1]

Mitchell plays guitar and sings, and was the producer, pedal steel guitar is by Sneaky Pete Kleinow and Henry Lewy was the engineer.^[2]

Nazareth cover

Scottish hard rock band Nazareth reworked the song in 1973. Their version, a driving hard-rock arrangement, was a hit in Canada, West Germany (where it reached number one) and the UK.^[4]^[5] It was produced by Roger Glover.^[6] The single reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1973. The band re-recorded the song in 1991 for the album No Jive.

Writing in The Independent in 2012, Robert Webb said:

The Dunfermline hard-rockers Nazareth loved Blue. You remember them: the gap-toothed vocalist, Dan McCafferty, had hair like a kitchen scourer and a voice to match. They were bad, bad boys. Among the tracks on their 1973 album Loud 'n' Proud, produced by the former Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, is a taut version of "This Flight". "We used to listen to Joni as we were travelling round in the van," recalls Nazareth's bass-player, Pete Agnew. "'This Flight Tonight' was a big favourite."
Mitchell was impressed with the makeover: "When she was recording at A&M, we were just starting an American tour," explains Agnew. "We all happened to be in the studio the day the single was released, so we were introduced to her and told her what we had done. She said, 'What, with a rock band?'" Joni paid the Scottish band the greatest compliment after "This Flight Tonight" became a worldwide hit for them, touching down at No 11 in the UK. "She was playing a gig in London and told the audience: 'I'd like to open with a Nazareth song'!".^[7]

Nancy Wilson revealed that the guitar riff for Nazareth's version of "This Flight Tonight" inspired the riff for the Heart song "Barracuda".^[8]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1973–1974)	Peak position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)^[9]	2
Canada Top Singles (RPM)^[10]	27
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)^[11]	5
UK Singles (OCC)^[12]	11
West Germany (GfK)^[13]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1974)	Position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)^[14]	4
West Germany (Media Control)^[15]	11

References

^ "Joni Mitchell – Carey". Discogs. 1971. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
^ Blue (LP liner notes). Joni Mitchell. US: Reprise Records. 1971. MS 2038.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^ Song Review by Donald A. Guarisco. "This Flight Tonight – Nazareth | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
^ M. C. Strong (1998), The great rock discography, p. 565, ISBN 978-88-09-21522-1
^ Dave Thompson (2004), Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story, pp. 201–202, ISBN 978-1-55022-618-8
^ "Nazareth (2) – This Flight Tonight". Discogs. October 1973. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
^ Robert Webb (13 September 2002). "Double Take: 'This Flight Tonight' – Joni Mitchell / Nazareth". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
^ "Heart's Nancy Wilson: We Took 'Barracuda' Riff From Legendary Band". YouTube. 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
^ "Nazareth – This Flight Tonight" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3850a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ "Nazareth – This Flight Tonight". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Nazareth – This Flight Tonight" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ "Jahreshitparade Singles 1974" (in German). Retrieved 23 June 2025.
^ "Top 100 Single–Jahrescharts 1974" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 23 June 2025.

[1] "Joni Mitchell – Carey". Discogs. 1971. Retrieved 10 January 2016.

[2] Blue (LP liner notes). Joni Mitchell. US: Reprise Records. 1971. MS 2038.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

[3] Song Review by Donald A. Guarisco. "This Flight Tonight – Nazareth | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2015.

[4] M. C. Strong (1998), The great rock discography, p. 565, ISBN 978-88-09-21522-1

[5] Dave Thompson (2004), Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story, pp. 201–202, ISBN 978-1-55022-618-8

[6] "Nazareth (2) – This Flight Tonight". Discogs. October 1973. Retrieved 27 May 2014.

[7] Robert Webb (13 September 2002). "Double Take: 'This Flight Tonight' – Joni Mitchell / Nazareth". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2015.

[8] "Heart's Nancy Wilson: We Took 'Barracuda' Riff From Legendary Band". YouTube. 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.

[sc_Austria_Nazareth-9] "Nazareth – This Flight Tonight" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[can-10] "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3850a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[sc_Switzerland_Nazareth-11] "Nazareth – This Flight Tonight". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[uk-12] "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[sc_West_Germany_Nazareth-13] "Offiziellecharts.de – Nazareth – This Flight Tonight" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[14] "Jahreshitparade Singles 1974" (in German). Retrieved 23 June 2025.

[15] "Top 100 Single–Jahrescharts 1974" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 23 June 2025.

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v t e Nazareth
Pete Agnew Jimmy Murrison Lee Agnew Carl Sentance Dan McCafferty Manny Charlton Darrell Sweet Zal Cleminson Billy Rankin John Locke Ronnie Leahy Linton Osborne
Studio albums	Nazareth Exercises Razamanaz Loud 'n' Proud Rampant Hair of the Dog Close Enough for Rock 'n' Roll Play 'n' the Game Expect No Mercy No Mean City Malice in Wonderland The Fool Circle 2XS Sound Elixir The Catch Cinema Snakes 'n' Ladders No Jive Move Me Boogaloo The Newz Big Dogz Rock 'n' Roll Telephone Tattooed on My Brain Surviving the Law
Live albums	BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 'Snaz Live at the Beeb Homecoming Back to the Trenches Alive & Kicking
Compilations	Greatest Hits Hot Tracks From the Vaults Greatest Hits Volume II Maximum XS
Songs	"Broken Down Angel" "Bad Bad Boy" "My White Bicycle" "Morning Dew" The Ballad of Hollis Brown" "Hair of the Dog" "Love Hurts" "This Flight Tonight" "Holiday" "Dream On" "Shanghai'd in Shanghai"
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"This Flight Tonight"
Song by Joni Mitchell
from the album Blue
Released	22 June 1971
Genre	Folk
Length	2:51
Label	Reprise
Songwriter	Joni Mitchell
Producer	Joni Mitchell

Official audio
"This Flight Tonight" on YouTube