Light & Night

Light & Night

Written by	Rob Cantor, Zubin Sedghi, Andrew Horowitz, Ross Federman
Appears on	The Magician’s Elephant book MP3 Download Code, Admittedly Incomplete Demos, Turn The Lights Off
Sung by	Rob Cantor, Nellie McKay
Genre	Rock
Language	English
Links:	YouTube Bandcamp Demo (Bandcamp)

Light & Night is a song written by Rob Cantor, Zubin Sedghi, Andrew Horowitz, and Ross Federman.^[1] It features Nellie McKay and was released on September 8th/9th 2009 as a free download from http://mp3.walmart.com/elephant with the purchase of Kate DiCamillo’s book The Magician’s Elephant.

History

On August 12th 2009, Andrew would report they would be heading into the studio with a female singer to record a new song, and that it would release in the fall of 2009.^[2]

In a December 2009 interview with Hiddeninthesand.com, Rob Cantor explains the band was approached to write the song for the book which was soon to be released. After reading the manuscript and deciding they had the time to do it, they wrote the song^[3] and it would be demoed by solely Rob on piano.^[4] They sent it to Nellie McKay, who performed at SXSW 2007 like Tally Hall, and she agreed to sing on it.

A demo of Light & Night was released on Admittedly Incomplete Demos on December 15th 2015.^[4]

Light & Night was released as part of the companion 7" Turn The Lights Off single on August 26th 2022, alongside their reissue of Good & Evil.^[5]

Trivia

Light & Night was written by 4 members of the band, making it one of their most cooperatively written songs to date.
It was discovered that the inside flap of each book provided the same code and webpage to enter the code. Essentially, there was no purchase necessary to get the song. The song was available up until March 31st, 2010 at http://mp3.walmart.com/elephant

Lyrics

These are currently unofficial lyrics, transcribed by the fans.

ROB:
We ought to leave a light on, leave a light on underneath the moon
Sitting in the sight of every eye, I believe in you
Open your window look out and see me
Slow I am coming a long way to be

NELLIE: 
An accidental light on, such as I am, by the lonely sun
Ever is the light on, is the light on, ever meant to run
Cold but I'm outside and waiting to see
Glow in the snow coming closer to me

BOTH:
Tonight I'm arriving alive and alight
Tonight all the black and the gray and the white
And I want to be like you are the one light
I want to see your eyes looking back and into mine

NELLIE:
Better when the light comes in the night time opening the door
Hoping to be right, it's open every night 
So whatcha waiting for?

BOTH:
Open your window look out and see me
Slow I am coming a long way to be

Tonight I'm arriving alive and alight
Tonight all the black and the gray and the white
And I want to be like you are the one light
I want to see your eyes looking back and into mine

ROB:
Something is real, maybe not
Something is gone
Something is here, only thought
All that you want 
Everything else will follow

BOTH:
Tonight I'm arriving alive and alight
Tonight all the black and the gray and the white
And I want to be like you are the one light
I want to see your eyes looking back and into mine

Demo Lyrics

We ought to leave a light on, leave a light on underneath the moon
Sitting in the sight of every eye, I believe in you
Open your window, look out and see me
Slow though I'm coming a long way to be

An accidental light on
Such as I am, mother's only son
Ever is the light on, is the light on
Ever meant to run

Cold out, you're outside I'm waiting to see
Glow in the snow coming closer to me

Tonight I'm arriving alive and alight
The left and the right is too gray in the night
And I want to be like you are the one bright
I want to see eyes

A-better when the light comes in the night I'm opening the door
Hoping to be right, it's open every night
So whatcha waiting for?

Open your window look out and see me
Slow though I'm coming a long way to be

Tonight I'm arriving alive and alight
The left and the right is too gray in the night
And I want to be like you are the one bright
I want to see eyes

Tonight I'm arriving alive and alight
The left and the right is too gray in the night
And I want to be like you are the one bright
I want to see eyes

Tabs/Chords

Nothing here yet!

Personnel

Music & Lyrics: Rob Cantor, Zubin Sedghi, Ross Federman, Andrew Horowitz

Studio Version

Produced by Andrew Horowitz
Vocals: Rob Cantor, Nellie McKay
Additional Vocals: Zubin Sedghi
Electric & Acoustic Guitar: Rob Cantor, Joe Hawley(?)
Piano & Keyboards: Andrew Horowitz
Drum Kit & Percussion: Ross Federman
Bass: Zubin Sedghi