Tuesday Tunes 62: Sunshine

Posted on by

Following last week’s first episode of my two-parter for yesterday’s Summer Solstice I thought I’d concentrate on sunshine songs this week. Well, I say ‘sunshine’ but, as usual, the links may be a little tenuous and the titles may contain variants. Yesterday was also World Music Day, on which we are encouraged to play music outdoors to make everyone happy. Ever tried it with Stockhausen? But let’s get started on some tunes to brighten your day: we can at least sing about the sunshine, even if the sky today is as dull as ditchwater.

How about this one to get us off to a rousing start:

You could hardly have a happier start than that, could you? He’s in love, she loves him too, and they are happy to be in each other’s company. Life was so simple in those days, wasn’t it? As that video gives you the clue, this was a track on The Beatles’ Revolver album, released in August 1966. This was the first track on side 2, and it has always struck me as a joyous way to restart the album after you had to walk over to the record player and flip the disc over. Remember record players? I hardly need give you the chart details, but for the sake of completeness, it was #1 in both the UK and the US, as well as in Australia and Canada. And Norway, as Wikipedia tells me.

Keeping the happy mood going, here’s one which I just couldn’t leave out:

That one dates back to 1985, when it was a top ten hit in both the UK and the US (#8 and #9 respectively). The band comprised members from both sides of the pond, and grew out of the foundations of an English covers band called Mama’s Cookin’, which had as its lead singer Katrina Leskanich, who is American. After this record they had moderate chart success for several years, until making a remarkable comeback by winning the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest for the UK with Love Shine A Light, which was a #3 hit here but didn’t chart in the US. Wisely, America decided to have nothing to do with Eurovision – I wish it didn’t still happen here, too, but at least it gives me a chance to explore the other channels while it is on.

I thought I’d slow things down a bit for my next tune. I featured the Cowboy Junkies a couple of times a few months ago and they were well received, and as I love their music it seemed a good idea to include them again:

That isn’t about sunshine – the sun is used as a symbol of days passing – but I find the beauty of Margo Timmins and her voice irresistible. And today is Tuesday, isn’t it? The band comes from Canada, and still has the same line up – including Margo and two of her three brothers – as when they began in 1985. They have never been a band to storm the charts, but have a loyal following who appreciate just how good their music is. This song is about a woman managing the time after the end of a relationship, about how she is spending her days alone, and concluding that there are benefits: that extra space in bed is worth having! I think it’s beautiful, and the video has a perfect feel to it. The song was on their 1990 album Caution Horses, which reached #11 in Canada, #33 here, and #47 in the US. It was released as a single, peaking at #22 in Canada and #90 here but didn’t make the US chart. They are very much an albums band, though.

My next tune also uses sunshine as a metaphor, but it is a classic from my youth so I’m keeping it in! If you are of a similar vintage to me you may well remember this one:

Cream were only together for two and a half years, during which they released four albums, all of which reached the top ten in the UK, three of them doing the same in the US. This was on the second album, Disraeli Gears, which was released in November 1967, reaching #5 in the UK and #4 in the US. This song was released as a single in the US in December 1967, peaking at #5, but wasn’t a single in the UK until September 1968, when it reached #25.

[Edit: it appears that the dreaded copyright curse has hit this one, so I’m hoping this link to an alternative will work for you.]

Of a similar vintage is this archetypal British track by The Kinks:

That was the biggest UK hit of summer 1966, displacing The Beatles’ Paperback Writer from the top of the charts. It was their third (and last) UK chart topper, and was also #1 in Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands, and #2 in New Zealand. It reached #14 in the US, and apart from a couple of minor hits it was the start of a three year absence from the US charts. The band had a massive falling out during a live show in Cardiff, which resulted in drummer Mick Avory being briefly hospitalised, and US radio bosses decided not to play their records for fear of setting a bad example to their impressionable kids. What a bunch of wusses! Pete Quaife, the bass player, is missing from the video: he was recovering at the time from a car accident. Life with this lot was anything but dull! The album that included this song, Face To Face, reached #12 in the UK and #135 in the US.

[Edit #2: another copyright curse victim. This is the link to the band’s official audio, so hopefully that will work for you!]

I’m cranking up the cheerful rating with my next one:

I just love this song and its happy vibes. This was released in March 2002 as the lead single from Sheryl Crow’s fourth album, C’mon, C’mon, which reached #2 in the album charts of the US, UK and Canada. Surprisingly to me it fared much less well as a single, only reaching #16 here in the UK and #17 in the US. Maybe they missed a trick by releasing it too early in the year? Everyone knows that the British summer comprises one day in July, so it might have been better to tie in with that. Still, who am I to judge the record company’s marketing? It sold a lot of albums, though: over 2m in the US, and that #17 placing was good enough to get the single a silver disc for 500k sales. The song and the video just say ‘happy’ to me.

Those of you who have been keeping count will have spotted that I have now reached the weekly quota of six tunes that I nominally set myself. Leaving you with Sheryl’s happiness would have been great, but this one kept nagging away at me to be included, and as it has a message of hope that is just as valid now – perhaps even more so – as when it was first released in 1966 it seemed a good place to close this week’s set:

Quite possibly the first Stevie Wonder song to contain an element of social conscience, I think, although it wasn’t one that he wrote: it was written by Ron Miller and Bryan Wells. Miller also had a hand in Stevie’s big hit For Once In My Life. This was released in November 1966, peaking at #9 in the US and #20 in the UK. The album it was on, Down To Earth, only reached #92 in the US and didn’t chart here. While you watch that video, bear in mind that although he had been making records for four years at this point, he was still only 16: quite remarkable, really. I’m including it because its message of hope is something which I think we all need at present:

“You know when times are bad
And you’re feeling sad
I want you to always remember

Yes, there’s a place in the sun
Where there’s hope for everyone“

That’s all for now. As ever, I hope you’ve enjoyed them. See you next week 😊

44 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 62: Sunshine”

  1. Pingback: Rosebuds From June | Take It Easy

  2. You missed one. “The Sun Always Shines On TV” by A-Ha. “Touch me … how can it be …. believe me-eeeeiee, the sun always shines on TV.” It’s a melancholy number with an upbeat backing, a winning if unusual combination.

    — Catxman

    Like

    Reply

    • No doubt I left many out – I was spoilt for choice on this one. That’s a good song, but I’m happy with the selection I made!

      Apologies for the slow response – because you included a link to your blog WP dropped your comment into spam. I’ve deleted that link to avoid further problems. It’s not a good way of promoting your blog, anyway!

      Like

      Reply

  4. A nice lively sunny post, Clive it’s the Kinks for me and I think Katrina is played out for me..too much of a good thing…A lovely reminder of a young Stevie Wonder its been a while since I listened to that one, Clive 🙂 x

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Hi Clive
    Enjoyed the jams
    A d the Sheryl Crow one does remind of the year it was played a lot on the radio
    Smiling at the summer in the UK lasting one day – lol
    And you are on to something with the marketing and how maybe someone missed something
    ☀️☀️☀️

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. two great songs to get things started. As Pete mentioned, how could you not enjoy walking on sunshine?

    and that is a wonderful song by the Cowboy Junkies…

    as Pete also mentioned, the next two songs did not appear, but I do feel like a bit of a music junkie since I recognize the reference to the Mick Avory incident 🙂

    I don’t know much by Sheryl Crow, but that sounds vaguely familiar; it was fun to watch…

    and you can never go wrong closing with Stevie Wonder.

    one song I’m reminded of is Sunshine by Jonathan Edwards:
    “Sunshine” was an energetic, happy-sounding statement of protest and independence. “It was just at the time of the Vietnam War and Nixon”, Jonathan recalls. “It was looking bad out there. That song meant a lot to a lot of people during that time–especially me”.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Another hit for the Cowboy Junkies! The two missing ones are Sunshine Of Your Love, by Cream (which was an official video!) and Sunny Afternoon, by The Kinks. I’ll try and find replacements and edit the post. The Sheryl Crow one is fun, isn’t it, and I love the Stevie clip. I’ve never heard of Jonathan Edwards or that song – thanks for widening my horizons 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • I’ve edited the post to include links to audio versions of both, fingers crossed they work! The Kinks were hard done by in the States, as we have discussed before!

        Honest answer? I didn’t enjoy it! I guess it meant more as a protest against a war we weren’t involved in than it could ever do for us here.

        Liked by 1 person

      • both of the updated links worked fine; love the song by Cream, haven’t heard it in quite a while. Also enjoyed listening to the song from the Kinks, that was new to me. sad that they were banned in the U.S. in their prime.

        well hopefully you at least liked the Jonathan Edwards song better than rap.. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      • Thanks for trying them, and I’m glad they worked. I think the US missed out on a lot with The Kinks, though they were very ‘British’ in their style and many of their references so may not have done well there anyway. We’ll never know now!

        Yes, it had that much going for it 😉

        Liked by 1 person

  10. So many great songs that fit this theme. I’m sure it was hard to narrow your choices down. One I thought of was John Denver’s Sunshine on My Shoulders. The Beatles are, of course, a classic. I don’t know how anyone could not tap to the beat of Walking on Sunshine. That’s always been a song I’ve loved. I think you’ve posted something by Cowboy Junkies before. I remember the band’s name, but none of their previous songs. This one is excellent. Songs #3 and #4 don’t show for us. I like a lot of Sheryl Crow songs, but I like many of her others better. Wow! That is some early Stevie Wonder right there.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • You’re right, Pete, I had a list of fourteen at one point. But not John Denver – not a fan of his, sorry. I’m glad you liked the Cowboy Junkies – from memory, you liked the others of theirs I’ve shared too. Sorry about Cream and The Kinks – I’ll try to find alternatives and edit the post. I shared that Stevie Wonder clip for its history value as well as the lyrics: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life was one of the fourteen that missed out!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. Anything to do with the sun and I’m in! Hubby says I’m solar powered. I love the Katrina song and Sheryl Crow’s. I remember driving to work and singing along with these songs on the radio. You’re the second person today who posted the Kinks, Sunny Afternoon. And ending with Little Stevie Wonder was just perfect! Thanks for this sunny post.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Please leave a reply, I'd like to know what you think