Sunshine Songs

article by Robert Benson

We have explored some ‘rain’ songs in a recent four-part article series in celebration of spring and now that summer is upon us, let’s explore some popular ‘sunshine’ songs and the history behind them in this two part article series.

Bill Withers released the epic cut “Ain’t No Sunshine” in 1971, a song which peaked at #3 on the US Pop charts. It was his first hit single and was actually the b-side for another cut called “Harlem,” but the DJs played “Ain’t No Sunshine” instead.

Bill Withers was still employed at a factory that manufactured toilet seats for 747s when he recorded the song. In fact, when he released the cut, he refused to resign from his job because of his beliefs about the music industry and the fact that he was still a novice when compared to other musicians.

In an interview, Withers explained the writing of the song:

"I was watching a movie called Days Of Wine And Roses (1962) with Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon. They were both alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. It's like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that weren't particularly good for you. It's just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that I'm not aware of."

And in the part of the song where Withers repeats the lyric “I know, I know” etc; (which is repeated a total of twenty-six times) he explains that he had originally intended to write more lyrics for that part of the song:

"I wasn't going to do that, then Booker T. said, 'No, leave it like that.' I was going to write something there, but there was a general consensus in the studio. It was an interesting thing because I've got all these guys that were already established, and I was working in the factory at the time. Graham Nash was sitting right in front of me, just offering his support. Stephen Stills was playing and there was Booker T. and Al Jackson and Donald Dunn - all of the MGs except Steve Cropper. They were all these people with all this experience and all these reputations, and I was this factory worker just sort of puttering around. So when their general feeling was, 'Leave it like that,' I left it like that."

Bill Withers won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1972. “Ain’t No Sunshine” is ranked 280th on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time and the song has been covered by an eclectic array of musicians including Michael Jackson, Prince, Sting, Aaron Neville, BB King, Buddy Guy, DMX, Elvis Costello, Isaac Hayes, James Taylor, Lenny Kravitz and Tom Jones, just to name a few. Additionally, the song has appeared in the films Notting Hill, Old School, Amy, Crooklyn, and Munich.

In 2001, DMX covered the song (under the title "No Sunshine") for the film "Exit Wounds." The song was released as a single and peaked at #67 on the US R&B Charts. Furthermore, a music video was produced featuring DMX performing the song against clips from the film. Recently, Kris Allen covered the song during the eighth season and the finale of American Idol. Not bad for a B-side.

Many claimed at the time that Scottish singer-songwriter, Donovan Leitch was nothing more than a Bob Dylan imitator, but the music world soon thought differently as Donovan was an accomplished musician and story teller. His cut, “Sunshine Superman” hit the top of the Billboard charts in the fall of 1966 (knocking out the Lovin’ Spoonful’s summer ditty “Summer In The City) and subsequently became the title track of Donovan's third album.

Donovan had previously hit the charts in 1965 with the folk-flavored cut “Catch The Wind” and became well-known of both sides of the Atlantic with a series of television appearances (In Britain, he appeared an “Ready Steady Go!” and in America on the television show “Shindig”). The song is believed to be the first of many from the highly successful three-year collaboration between Donovan and producer Mickie Most and is generally considered to be one of the first examples of the musical genre that came to be known as psychedelia.

Donovan had a great relationship with the Beatles (he sang on the Beatles cut “Yellow Submarine” and Paul McCartney could be heard whispering on Donovan’s next single “Mellow Yellow”) and the song was originally subtitled "For John and Paul," a reference to Lennon and McCartney. In fact, Mickie Most told him not to play this to Paul McCartney under any circumstances, because he knew McCartney would be tempted to do something similar.

Donovan was recording for Pye Records while he was working on song. Pye also had Mickie Most under contract, but he moved to CBS before the album could be released. This prompted a lawsuit that delayed release of the album, so it didn't come out in the US until September, 1966, and wasn't released in the UK until 1967. This was unfortunate for Donovan, because this cut may have been considered much more innovative if it was released on schedule.

Interestingly, a session guitarist named Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin fame) played lead guitar on the song and this was Donovan's first collaboration with arranger/musician John Cameron, who helped develop a new sound for him (Cameron played the harpsichord on the record). The lyrics of the song allude not only to Superman, but also to another DC Comics superhero, Green Lantern and 'Sunshine' and 'Superman' are the first words in the first and second verses respectively.

The song has been covered by Hüsker Dü on their 1983 album, "Everything Falls Apart," New York punk band Alice Donut on their debut album "Donut Comes Alive," by songstress Jewel (for the soundtrack of the 1996 film "I Shot Andy Warhol"), Trini Lopez, Rickie Lee Jones and infamously by crooner Mel Tormé.

Although the ‘supergroup’ Cream (Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce) were not together very long, the group was able to lay down some of the best blues rock of their day and of all time. Included in this description is the instantly recognizable hit “Sunshine Of Your Love,” from their 1967 album Disraeli Gears. The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts in 1968 and stayed on the charts for an impressive twelve weeks.

The song was written by Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton with the lyrical help from Pete Brown (who also wrote lyrics for the Cream cuts “I Feel Free” and the classic cut “White Room”), a beat poet who was friends with Baker and Bruce.

However, development of the song actually began in January 1967, when Bruce and Clapton attended a Jimi Hendrix show in London. Bruce returned home and wrote the now memorable bass guitar riff that runs throughout the song.

"I picked up my double bass and played the riff," recalls Bruce. "Pete looked out the window and the sun was coming up. He wrote 'It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes…'" Clapton later added the chorus ("I've been waiting so long…") which also yielded the song's title.

The song was almost not part of the album because of record company executive Ahmet Ertegun's dislike for Jack Bruce and his "Psychedelic hogwash." In fact, Atlantic Records initially rejected the song. However, Booker T. Jones (leader of Booker T. and the MG's) and a respected Atlantic musician heard the band rehearsing the song in the Atlantic studios and recommended it to the record company bosses. Based on this recommendation, Atlantic approved the recording. It's also rumored that the only reason that it was recorded was because they didn't have enough material to fill the album; although a song of this quality should certainly squash that statement.

The song appears on the soundtracks of the Movies School of Rock, Goodfellas, Uncommon Valor, and True Lies. Additionally, the cut was a set list staple for Jimi Hendrix throughout his 1968 and 1969 concerts. Other artists who covered the song are Ella Fitzgerald, the 5th Dimension, Frank Zappa, Ozzy Osbourne, Goo Goo Dolls, Toto, Elvis Costello and The Police and Living Colour (among others). The song was named the 65th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. In 2009 it was named the 44th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.

Cream played this at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 12, 1993 when they reunited for their induction. Eric Clapton still plays this song in concert, which is a testament to the longevity and magic of the song.

An upbeat and downright infectiously cheerful ditty called “Walking On Sunshine,” by Katrina and the Waves, hit the charts running in 1983 (from the LP “Walk On Water”) and the cut still has fans smiling and feeling happy after they hear it. Written by Kimberly Rew, founder of Katrina and the Waves, and sung with a bubbly-rushed tempo the cut has been used in a number of feature films including: The Secret of My Success (1987), Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie (1997) and American Psycho (2000). Additionally, Jack Black's character in High Fidelity (2000) played this song on a cassette tape. A cover by the duo Aly & AJ was used in the Disney motion picture Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).

This is also the favorite song of Philip J. Fry, a character from the Futurama TV Show. He sings this while showering, but the only words he remembers are "I'm walking on sunshine," so he hums the rest.

Katrina and the Waves are considered a one-hit-wonder in the United States (where the band name evoked unfortunate images after the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster), but they had another hit in the UK with “Love Shine A Light,” which was entered in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Look for part-two on Sunday!

Copyright 2009- Robert Benson www.collectingvinylrecords.com