Peak
11
Weeks
37
Score
4,271
Chart Year
1980
Mardones made a music video for the song, but, as it predated MTV by a year, it was not widely broadcast. It opens with Mardones walking down a street and approaching a house. The song plays over the video, and the lyrics serve as Mardones's monologue. He is met at the door by a bearded man who sings the opening line: "She's just 16 years old / Leave her alone." Mardones walks to the back of the house, peering through a window at a young girl sitting sullenly in her room. The video then cuts to Mardones at a pay phone, speaking to the girl on the other end of the line and professing his love. The video cuts again to Mardones returning to the girl's house, carrying a rolled-up carpet. He crawls through her bedroom window and unrolls the magic carpet. As Mardones takes the girl's hand, they take flight into the night sky. The video closes with Mardones serenading the girl as they embrace; the scene fades to black as they kiss. For many years the video was difficult to find in its entirety, although clips were featured in infomercials for Time-Life Soft Rock compilations.[12] On July 2, 2016, a full version of the video was uploaded to YouTube
With the opening line, "She's just 16 years old, leave her alone, they said," we understand if you think this song sounds a little statutory. Benny Mardones told Songfacts that the 16-year-old girl he's singing about was named Heidi, and she lived in his apartment in Spanish Harlem. Their relationship was purely platonic, however, as Benny looked after Heidi and her family after her father left. Benny would pay her $50 a week to walk his basset hound, Zanky. Mardones wrote this song with Robert Tepper, who would later write the song "No Easy Way Out" for the movie Rocky IV. Benny told Songfacts: "One night Robert Tepper and I were up writing songs. It was about a week before we were leaving for Miami to cut the first big album, which was Never Run, Never Hide. We thought that we already had the hit song, so did Polydor Records. It was a song called 'Might Have Been Love.' But at the last minute we're sitting there one night at my apartment trying to write. Bobby kept playing the chord changes and we tried 18 melodies and 30 kinds of lyrics and all of a sudden the key in the door turned and I said, 'Oh my God, it's daylight.' Because we liked to keep the blinds down. And in she walks, 16 years old, dressed for school in a miniskirt, little stacked heels, adorable, 16-going-on-21. She said, 'You've been up all night?' and of course it was obvious. I said, 'Yeah, we have.' She says, 'Okay, come on, Zanky,' and she walks the dog out. When she leaves and goes out the door, my partner goes, 'Oh, my God.' I said, 'Hey, Bob. She's just 16 years old, leave her alone.' And literally five minutes later I said, 'Play that lick again, Bobby.' So he played the lick and I went (singing), 'she's just 16 years old, leave her alone, they say.' Then I thought about her dad and what he had done, and that's where I got (singing), 'Separated by fools who don't know what love is yet.' The chorus was, 'you're too young for me, but if I could fly, I'd pick you up and take you into the night and show you love like you've never seen.' Then the verse 'It's like having it all and letting it show. It's like having a dream where nobody has a heart. It's like having it all and watching it fall apart.' Because his success was not the family's success; it was just his. 'I can't measure my love there's nothing compared to it' - it was all about the abandonment of this family and this 16-year-old girl." While the song has stuck like glue to radio playlists, when it first came out, radio stations had some concerns. Benny explains: "When it first was released, R&B stations all over America thought I was black. Then they found out I was white and they dropped the record. White radio was afraid to touch it because they thought it was about me dating a 16-year-old girl at my age. So Polydor Records sent out like 3,000 letters to radio stations across the country explaining what the song was really about. And the song got added and almost instantly started playing all over America." When this song became a hit, Benny Mardones suddenly found himself with a great deal of money and fame, which he didn't handle very well. He developed a cocaine addiction and got in the habit of drinking a bottle of whiskey every night. He recorded the album Too Much To Lose the next year, but when it came time to tour and promote it, he was in Miami, wasted out of his mind. His momentum was stopped cold and his record company, Polydor, lost interest. He continued his descent until 1985, when his son Michael was born and he stopped using drugs. His best friend pulled him together and flew him to Syracuse, where Benny started a new life away from the temptations of Miami. The only white stuff he saw was snow - and plenty of it. Benny became a local celebrity, met various women who helped raise his son (Michael's mom was in worse shape than Benny), and was a big concert draw in the area for the next 10 years. In 1989, "Into The Night" was re-released after a "Where Are They Now?" feature on the Arizona radio station KZZP, which led to renewed interest in the song. The influential program director Scott Shannon added it to his playlist in Los Angeles, and radio stations across the country followed suit. A new version of the song was released, and this time it hit #20 in the US. The song was the only one to chart twice in the '80s by the same artist with the same version of the song. Usher interpolated this song on the track "Making Love (Into the Night)" from his 2010 album Raymond v. Raymond. This plays in the 2009 Breaking Bad episode "Down" in a scene where the main characters meet in a convenience store. The song also shows up in the movies Satin (2011), Life After Beth (2014), Get Hard (2015) and Nerve (2016).
She's just sixteen years old Leave her alone, they say Separated by fools Who don't know what love is yet But I want you to know If I could fly I'd pick you up I'd take you into the night And show you a love Like you've never seen, ever seen It's like having a dream Where nobody has a heart It's like having it all And watching it fall apart And I would wait till the end of time for you And do it again, it's true I can't measure my love There's nothing to compare it to But I want you to know If I could fly I'd pick you up I'd take you into the night And show you a love Oh if I could fly I'd pick you up I'd take you into the night And show you a love Like you've never seen, ever seen Oh if I could fly I'd pick you up I'd take you into the night And show you a love Oh if I could fly I'd pick you up And take you into the night If I could fly I'd pick you up And into the night Fly I'd pick you up
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jun 14, 1980 | 78 | 48 |
| 2 | Jun 21, 1980 | 68 | 58 |
| 3 | Jun 28, 1980 | 52 | 74 |
| 4 | Jul 5, 1980 | 47 | 79 |
| 5 | Jul 12, 1980 | 36 | 90 |
| 6 | Jul 19, 1980 | 30 | 96 |
| 7 | Jul 26, 1980 | 28 | 98 |
| 8 | Aug 2, 1980 | 26 | 100 |
| 9 | Aug 9, 1980 | 20 | 106 |
| 10 | Aug 16, 1980 | 17 | 109 |
| 11 | Aug 23, 1980 | 16 | 110 |
| 12 | Aug 30, 1980 | 12 | 114 |
| 13 | Sep 6, 1980 | 11 | 115 |
| 14 | Sep 13, 1980 | 11 | 115 |
| 15 | Sep 20, 1980 | 28 | 98 |
| 16 | Sep 27, 1980 | 29 | 97 |
| 17 | Oct 4, 1980 | 66 | 60 |
| 18 | Oct 11, 1980 | 73 | 53 |
| 19 | Oct 18, 1980 | 86 | 40 |
| 20 | Oct 25, 1980 | 99 | 27 |