# The Strange Magic of: Benny Mardones



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Love. So many facets: grateful love, spurned love, unrequited love, expectant love.... The last two clips have focused on love, and we're going to continue with one of the greatest one-hit-wonder singer-songwriters and songs of the Modern Era, Benny Mardones and his immortal _Into the Night,_ a classic fusion of love and histrionics. Mardones since penning and singing this gem has somehow managed to make an entire, though modest, career of singing his single hit over the decades in small venues all over America. Into the Night also made minor history by being one of only a handful of songs to twice ascend to the top 20 of Billboard's Top 100 songs chart--1980 and then a decade later in 1989. Mardones' extended closing wails and cries are half the fun of a great song. A brief cameo appearance by Wolfman Jack. This is truly Popular Music, and meant to be played loud! Those with exquisitely refined tastes may find this sort of music disturbing, but you were warned.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

This guy has played gigs in my hometown quite a bit over the years. For some reason I thought he was from Syracuse, but Wiki says he grew up in Maryland. I'm glad he had his big hit to sustain him on an endless journey of intimate gigs over the past 35 years. That's all I have to say, as I have no interest in his music. Rock on, Benny!


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I think the Syracuse angle may be as follows: a co-worker of mine hailed originally from the Syracuse area, and reported to me that for some inexplicable reason, Mardones and _Into the Night_ became a mini-sensation in that part of New York State both as a radio hit and then cemented firmly into place with a concert appearance there. As the years passed, Mardones returned again and again to Syracuse and adulation, a phenomenon not unknown in Rock and Pop history with other performers and specific locales. For what it's worth, I happened one day by freak accident, years ago, to tune into Rush Limbaugh on the car radio when he was in a reflective mood and not spilling forth his usual nonsense, and old Rush wistfully spoke of his unsuccessfully courting a girl at the time, all the while listening to Mardones' hit, and remembering it as a powerful and evocative song, and an all-time favorite.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

No music to add to this thread, but there are video clips of Mardones singing his One Big Song in later years, with the increasing symptoms of his Parkinson's Disease becoming more and more evident. Mardones sang _Into the Night_ for the last time before an adoring audience at a small casino in 2017. A brave man who managed to somehow parley an amazing song and its delivery into pop music immortality.


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