The melancholy pop anthem of a lonely night, perfectly balancing teen idol gloss with genuine heartache.
For those of us who came of age in the 1970s, the name David Cassidy is inextricably linked with The Partridge Family, and the song “It’s One Of Those Nights (Yes Love)” is a quintessential piece of that television-pop landscape. Released as a single in late 1971, it was officially credited to The Partridge Family (featuring David Cassidy), yet his distinct voice and star power are what drove its success.
This song was a significant transatlantic hit. In the United States, it peaked at Number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but its true resonance lay on the quieter side of the dial, reaching an impressive Number 2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, revealing its cross-generational appeal. Overseas, its popularity was even more pronounced, climbing to Number 11 on the highly competitive UK Singles Chart and Number 9 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart in early 1972. The track was the lead single from The Partridge Family‘s third album, Shopping Bag, which also sold exceptionally well based on the strength of its TV association and hit singles.
The story of “It’s One Of Those Nights (Yes Love)” is simple, yet it manages to tap into a universal feeling of nostalgic melancholy. Written by the highly prolific pop songwriter Tony Romeo, the song is a beautifully orchestrated meditation on loneliness and missing a loved one, particularly after a break-up. The music manages to sound both upbeat and terribly sad simultaneously. It uses the familiar, smooth pop production typical of the era, complete with gentle strings and background harmonies, but the lyric cuts right to the heart of late-night yearning: “It’s one of those nights, when you turn out the lights / And you sit in the dark and say to yourself, ‘I miss her.’“
The brilliance of the song, and perhaps the key to its lasting memory for older listeners, is how it articulated deep, adult-like sadness through the voice of a fresh-faced teen idol. Cassidy’s vocal delivery, tinged with a delicate balance of pop polish and palpable heartache, made the experience of missing someone feel epic. For millions of teenagers (and the adults who listened to the easy-listening stations), this was the anthem for those silent, solitary hours when the world was asleep but your mind was wide awake, obsessing over a lost love. It’s the perfect sonic snapshot of the emotional life of the early ’70s—a moment when the glamour of pop could still effectively carry the weight of honest, emotional vulnerability. The song’s title, with its parenthetical addition of “(Yes Love),” adds a slight, almost hesitant affirmation, acknowledging the pain while embracing the very emotion that causes it.