Songfacts®:

• This high-energy single was featured on the 1985 soundtrack to the hit TV series Miami Vice. The song is about someone from a major city who's unwilling to settle for struggling from paycheck to paycheck and wants to "own the night." Miami Vice was a cop show that often featured glamorous criminals, so in that context Chaka could be singing from the perspective of someone willing to resort to crime to get what she wants. The song was a modest hit, peaking at #57, but remains a favorite of fans from the show. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Mike - Santa Barbara, CA
• The song was originally recorded by the disco singer George McRae, peaking at #59 on the Billboard dance chart in 1984. His version can be found on the Gold Mountain album Own The Night.
• This was written by:
  
  American singer-songwriter Franne Golde whose other credits include The Commodores' "Nightshift" which received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year, and the Pussycat Dolls international hit single "Stickwitu."
  
  Mary Dean Lauria, who also co-penned Diana Ross' "Little Bright Star" for the Motown Christmas Gift album. She is also an actress, and her credits include voicing characters in Heavy Traffic (1973) and Hey Good Lookin' (1982).
  
  Self-taught musician Marti Sharron, who was living in Los Angeles and trying to break into the music business when she co-wrote "Jump (For My Love)" a pop and R&B hit in 1984 for the Pointer Sisters. She went on to write for the likes of Philip Bailey, Anita Baker, Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and the Backstreet Boys before passing away at the age of 56 in 2007.