"Saw the night, walked all night till morning..." - history of the song by Kino
Table of Contents
"We saw the night, we walked all night till morning..." - Unfortunately, this song is not always a favourite, or at least not among them... Many fans of Kino consider the song to be too frivolous - they say it does not correspond to the spirit of Russian rock! There are also those who accuse Victor Tsoi of plagiarism (more on this later...).

Many people, however, genuinely love and respect this song as a magnificent legacy of the Russian rock legend...
History of Creation
The legal author is Viktor Tsoi: he composed the lyrics, he also composed the music... When exactly Tsoi wrote this song is not known. However, he played it for the first time in 1984, at one of his flat parties.
"Saw the Night" was released in 1985 as part of the album "Night".

Curiously enough, in 1988 the album was released on vinyl by Melodiya, though... without the consent of the band members themselves.
The point...
It's no secret that Tsoi simply adored the night... The leader of "Kino" even dedicated several of his works to this mysteriously beautiful time of day!
Music critics agreed that the song "Saw the Night" represents one of the poetic declarations of the "new romantics" movement, to which the band members attributed themselves.
Music video
The video for the song was shot with the participation of Joanna Stingray (or rather, with her support). It took place in December 1985 in Leningrad.
https://youtu.be/cUDv9DEfxAc
Many fans of the band must have noticed that Yuri Kasparyan was not in the clip... Later, the Kino guitarist revealed the reason for his absence:
"I just got a job in the boiler room, but as it turned out, I missed out... Five boilers as big as a three-storey building, and they had to be monitored all the time! I was cheated out of my schedule... There were hardly any days off. When the guys were having fun and shooting a video where Tsoi was still playing a solo on a tree, I was working... And today I regret the missed opportunity...".

Interesting facts
Particularly attentive listeners noticed a suspicious similarity between the song "We Saw the Night" and the track "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure. Of course, we will not accuse Victor Tsoi of plagiarism. However, it would be foolish to deny the influence of the British on Kino's work....
The most popular cover is the version of Zdob Si Zdub. The organisers of the project "KINOproby" themselves offered the band this track, and of course, without thinking long, they agreed (which they never regretted)! Now it is their calling card.