Night Ranger – Sister Christian
Description
“Sister Christian” is a power ballad by the American hard rock band Night Ranger. It was released in March 1984 as the second single from their album Midnight Madness. It was ranked No. 32 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s. It was written and sung by the band’s drummer, Kelly Keagy, for his sister. It was the band’s biggest hit, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and staying on the charts for 24 weeks. It also reached No. 1 in Canada. The song is used in several films, including Boogie Nights (1997), Superstar (1999), Friday the 13th (2009) and Ben Affleck‘s 2023 film Air (2023).
Origin and meaning
The song is about Keagy’s little sister, Christy. Keagy wrote the song at his apartment, near Divisadero and California Streets in San Francisco, after he had just returned from a visit to his hometown of Eugene, Oregon. He had been struck by how fast his teenaged sister, 10 years younger than he was, was growing up.
“After we started playing it a lot, Jack turned to me and said, ‘What exactly are you saying?'” Keagy recalled. “He thought the words were Sister Christian, instead of Sister Christy, so it just stuck.”[9]
The lyric, “You’re motoring. What’s your price for flight? In finding Mr. Right?” is the subject of much debate. The band stated in a VH-1 Behind the Music interview that the term “motoring” was synonymous with the term “cruising“.
Differences between album version and 7″ single version
On the single version, part of the second chorus is omitted. More specifically, the words “You’ve got him in your sight. And driving through the night,” are omitted from the single version. The third chorus is repeated once on the album version, but never on the single.
Music video
The music video (which uses the shorter single version) was filmed within San Rafael High School.
