"Saturday Night" is a 1976 pop hit by the Scottish band Bay
City Rollers. It was written and produced by Bill Martin and
Phil Coulter. The tune is an upbeat pop-rock number with a
memorable hook: the word "Saturday" spelled out in a rhythmic
chant.
An early version of the song was recorded in the UK in 1973,
but did not hit the charts. On the first version Gordon "Nobby"
Clark was the lead singer of the band. The song was re-recorded
for the Rollers' 1974 UK album
Rollin', but never saw release as a single in their home
country; by this time Clark had left the band for solo work and
had been replaced by Les McKeown. The re-recording was issued
as a US single in late 1975 and became a smash hit in early
1976, becoming the first Billboard #1 of the US Bicentennial
year. Despite a string of worldwide hit songs, and other US
hits, "Saturday Night" was the group's only enduring American
hit.
Among the remakes of "Saturday Night" is a 1993 hit version
by Ned's Atomic Dustbin, featured in the Mike Myers movie
So I Married an Axe Murdereralong with the Bay City
Rollers' original.
Japanese comedian Gorie released a cover of "Saturday Night"
called "Pecori Night" which was the 48th best-selling single in
Japan for 2005, according to Oricon charts. Although the melody
is the same, the lyrics are completely different from the
original.
Also, the Japanese producer Yoichiro Ito - Akakage released
a groove disco cover.
Japanese boyband Arashi borrows the chorus replacing the
lyrics Saturday Night with Carnival Night, in their song
Carnival Night Pt. 2
Japanese band JAM Project uses the Saturday Night chant
rhythm in its song "March of Rescue Hero."
Japanese band Tokio uses elements from Saturday Night in
their song "Kanpai!!"
A local band from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Harpoon (formerly
known as the Eric Eggleston Band) did a cover of the song in
2008. It is commonly used during Saturday night Ottawa Senators
games at Scotiabank Place.
Drake Bell also did a live cover of this song at his concert
at the Auditorio Nacional in his dvd "Drake Bell In
Concert."