Good Night, Dear Lord


Good Night, Dear Lord is the fourth album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released by Columbia Records on March 3, 1958, and is the first of many projects undertaken over the course of his career that have a specific focus, which here happens to be religion. Several musical styles are covered, including spirituals, classical works, songs from the Jewish tradition, and 20th-century offerings.
The album debuted on Billboard magazine's list of the 25 Best-Selling Pop LPs in the US in the issue dated April 7, 1958, and peaked at number 10 during its 12 weeks there.
The release of the album in the UK on the Fontana label was re-titled Heavenly. While the original US release of Good Night, Dear Lord was in the monaural format, the stereo version was available later that year, on July 14. On May 7, 1996, it was issued for the first time on compact disc. Good Night, Dear Lord was also included in Legacy's Mathis box set The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection, which was released on December 8, 2017.

Reception

Billboard magazine described the album as a "beautiful set of religious songs, rendered with feeling and sincerity by the artist."
In the liner notes of her 1997 album Higher Ground, Barbra Streisand wrote, "I first heard 'Deep River' at age 16 when I bought my first Johnny Mathis record at the supermarket for $1.98. He sang it so beautifully. The song always stayed with me." She recorded that song as part of a medley for the album, and included another of her Good Night, Dear Lord discoveries, "One God", on her Christmas Memories album in 2001.
The Mathis recording of "Kol Nidre" inspired the Idelsohn Society, named for musicologist Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, to compile other Jewish songs by African-American artists on the 2010 CD Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations. In August 2010 Mathis was the recipient of the Idelsohn Society Honors, which was created to "pay tribute to key figures in American-Jewish music whose stories have not been told."

Recording dates

From the liner notes for the 1996 CD release:
  • January 2, 1958 — "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You", "The Rosary", "Where Can I Go?"
  • January 3, 1958 — "Ave Maria", "Ave Maria", "Deep River", "Good Night, Dear Lord", "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
  • January 6, 1958 — "Eli Eli", "I Heard a Forest Praying", "Kol Nidre", "One God"

Personnel

Original album

1996 CD release

From the liner notes for the CD: