CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)

1961 single by The Mar-Keys

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 23, 2025
Entity authorityQ6494513 ↗
Source-derived summary

"Last Night" is an instrumental recorded by The Mar-Keys. Released in 1961, the track appeared on Last Night!, the first LP released by the Stax label.

Background

The label of the single gives writing credit simply to "Mar-Keys"; it was registered with BMI as having been written by Charles Axton, Floyd Newman, Gilbert C. Caple, Jerry Lee Smith and Chips Moman.

The song is in a twelve-bar blues form, with brief stops, where Floyd Newman intones "Last Night" before his saxophone solo, which is followed by him exclaiming "Oh, yeah!" before the last three choruses, including the pauses, before the song's fade.

According to Steve Cropper, in an interview with Paul Nassari of the Sunday Mail newspaper, in Adelaide, Australia, "Jerry Lee ‘Smoochy’ Smith came up with the piano riff that was played on organ. Since [producer Chips] Moman didn't want a guitar on it for whatever reason, I wound up playing the hold-down on the organ on the root note. It hurts me in the Mar-Keys history when people say I wasn’t in the Mar-Keys because there’s no guitar on Last Night but I have to differ with them."

Chart performance

"Last Night" reached #3 Pop and #2 in the R&B charts in the United States. In Canada, the song reached #21 on the CHUM Charts.

Cover versions

The Ventures released their take on the 1963 Dolton Records album The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull, BST 8019.

The tune was covered by Georgie Fame on his 1966 Sweet Things album.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)” as 1961 single by The Mar-Keys. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Last, Night and Mar-Keys.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1961, 1963, 1966—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1961-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Last, Night and Mar-Keys providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)”, the useful work is to connect “1961 single by The Mar-Keys” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6494513. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 1963 and 1966.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Last Night (Mar-Keys composition) primary sources, Last Night (Mar-Keys composition) archive and Last research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.