"All Through the Night" is a song written and recorded by Jules Shear for his 1983 album Watch Dog. It was produced by Todd Rundgren.
Elliot Easton of American rock band the Cars helped produce an early version of the song. It was covered by the Cars, who did not use it on any of their albums, and by Cyndi Lauper, who included it on her debut album She's So Unusual (1983). Lauper's version peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her fourth top five single in the US. An acoustic version was sung by Lauper on her 2005 album, The Body Acoustic, with additional vocals by Shaggy.
Shear said his own idea was that "All Through the Night" was a folk song, but that Lauper's electronic interpretation was more lucrative, paying for his New York apartment.
Writing and composition
The song was written by Jules Shear for his 1983 debut solo album, Watch Dog. Produced by Todd Rundgren, the song was composed in a medium tempo. Lyrically, "All Through the Night" addresses the concept of love and its tug at heart-strings.
Shear recalled in an interview, "[it's] like a big bonus really. Cyndi Lauper does a song ('All Through the Night') that's on a solo record of mine. I just thought, 'No one's really going to hear this.' Then she does it, and it becomes a Top 5 song." "I'm just glad people know the songs, really. I think they're really good. The only problem is with people who don't know I wrote them. I do them and they think, 'God, he's doing that Cyndi Lauper song'", Shear said later.
Reception
"All Through the Night" received little attention as Watch Dog never charted. Chris Woodstra from AllMusic highlighted the song when he reviewed Watch Dog. Dave DiMartino described it as "boasting". A reviewer from the Philadelphia Inquirer called it a "terribly good [song]".
Cyndi Lauper version
American singer Cyndi Lauper recorded a version for her 1983 album She's So Unusual. Shear said he was surprised that his "folk song" was interpreted by Lauper as "a drum machine and techno thing". According to Lauper, she wanted it to be just like Shear's version, with a bit more of an acoustic sound. However, she changed her mind, saying that she wanted to remake it in her own style.
Composition
For her cover version, Lauper transposed the key up a minor third to A-flat major, and kept the tempo at the same 96 beats per minute as the original. The song is set in common time. Lauper's voice spans an octave and a fourth between G3 and D♭5. Jules Shear himself makes a guest appearance on Lauper's version, singing a wordless falsetto melody near the end, as well as the lower harmony in the choruses. The chorus was unintentionally altered by Lauper from the Shear version when she heard the upper harmony vocal and thought it was the lead vocal. The song follows up "Time After Time" love and its tug at heart-strings concept.
Critical reception
Reception for her version was mostly positive. Don McLeese of the Chicago Sun-Times said that the song was the one that "showed her impressive range to best advantage." Cash Box said that "Cyndi Lauper strikes again with a strong vocal performance" and praised the "hypnotic keyboard melody" and "emotion charged harmonies." The Philadelphia Inquirer said that she had a "strong voice" in the song. However, another Philadelphia Inquirer review said that the song was "a not terribly good version of Jules Shear's terribly good [song]." Richard Harrington of The Washington Post believed that it was her most reflective song. Kevin East of Sensible Sound said that the song was "a heavy, melancholy tune." Leslie Gray Streeter of the Palm Beach Post said that the song was "lovely" and "delicate." Even Shear himself was a fan of Lauper's version, saying "The Cyndi Lauper thing where she did 'All Through the Night,' that was great because she did it so differently than the way I did. I liked that, too." However, the St. Petersburg Times did not like the song, saying that it was a "pedestrian filler number" on the album.
Kurt Loder of Rolling Stone said that Lauper "does an almost tasteful reading" of the song. Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine said that the song emerged as one of "the greatest pop masterpieces of the '80s." Shear said that Lauper's version is his all-time favorite cover.