Song Lyric Sunday: Bring Me Sunshine

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In his post for today’s Song Lyric Sunday, Coping Music, Jim invites us to share a song of the ‘sunshine pop’ genre. This is the second suggestion from John Holton, who seems to be trying to introduce us foreigners to the deeper recesses of American pop music culture! Not knowing what this one was about necessitated another visit to Delphi, (ok, Wikipedia) where I learned that “Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles, sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with ‘an appreciation for the beauty of the world.’ It largely consisted of lesser-known artists who imitated more popular groups such as the Mamas & the Papas and the 5th Dimension.” So now I know. I followed their link to a list of bands who were considered to be part of this genre, and can happily confirm the “lesser-known artists” part of the description. I did recognise several of them, though, and one stood out for me as I enjoyed their music and had a couple of their albums. And if this is typical of sunshine pop I think it is well-named:

A really happy, sunny sound for a dismal February Sunday! The lyrics are clear, but in case you missed something here they are in full:

Some girls like to run around, like to handle everything they see
But my girl has more fun around and you know she’d rather be with me

Me-oh my lucky guy is what I am
Tell you why you’ll understand
She don’t fly although she can

Some boys like to run around, they don’t think about the things they do
But this boy wants to settle down, and you know he’d rather be with you

Me-oh my lucky guy is what I am
Tell you why you’ll understand
She don’t fly although she can

Some girls like to run around, like to handle everything they see
But my girl has more fun around and ya know she’d rather be with
Yeah she’d rather be with, you know she’d rather be with me

You know she’d rather be with me…

Source: AZLyrics

Writers: Alan Gordon, Garry Bonner

Copyright: The Orchard Music (on behalf of FloEdCo)

As I said at the beginning, I really liked The Turtles. They were fun, didn’t take themselves too seriously, and always seemed to be enjoying what they were doing – that enjoyment was infectious. I like the way Mark Volman is trying to put Howard Kaylan off during the performance, though I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the Ed Sullivan Show used pre-recorded backing tracks for the bands to mime along to, anyway! She’d Rather Be With Me was released as a single in April 1967, as the follow up to their US #1 (and UK #12) Happy Together, which was also written by Messrs. Gordon and Bonner. It did well in the charts, too, peaking at #3 in the US and #4 in the UK – their highest chart placing here. Its best performance was in Canada, where it made #1.

In case anyone – probably the Brits among you – recognised my title as another song, I’m sorry to disappoint you but Morecambe and Wise aren’t really a musical favourite of mine: just great comedians, so I’m not playing that one.

This is my third week back with SLS after my hiatus and I’m enjoying it a lot. I’m looking forward to seeing what others play for this theme: it could be a day filled with happy music! See you again soon. 😊

36 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Bring Me Sunshine”

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  6. A genre that I never knew had a name till now. It could be called ‘cheesy’ as well, as against bubblegum, which it is uncomfortably close to. One that comes to mind is Roy Orbison going for an obvious ‘I need cash- now!’ song in ‘Penny Arcade.’ Interesting rabbit hole, this Sunshine pop category!

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    • Yes, I saw the other one. Probably one of the more obvious choices for a Brit as most of the other bands listed on Wikipedia were unknown here. The Turtles were great fun, and that’s another good one of theirs.

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