The challenge for us this week on Song Lyric Sunday is to play a song that won a Grammy Award, as set out by Jim in his post Outstanding Music Achievement. As these are very much an American creation – though they have been kind enough to give them to Brits on occasion – I didn’t really know enough about them, so had to make my regular trip to Wikipedia. Of course I already knew of them, and they have gathered more publicity here in recent years, but I didn’t know that there are actually four main awards which could fit the bill for this theme. To narrow the choice down a bit I limited myself to just one category: Song Of The Year, which is awarded to the songwriter/s, not the performers. Obviously, in many cases these are one and the same, but I’m playing you three of the previous winners today, one of which wasn’t written or co-written by the singer concerned.

My lead song is one that was co-written by the singer, who just happens to be one of my favourites and has featured in my blog before. It is a typically great example of her style:

The song tells a dark little tale. Here are its lyrics:

Sunny came home to her favorite room
Sunny sat down in the kitchen
She opened a book and a box of tools
Sunny came home with a mission

She says, “Days go by, I’m hypnotized
I’m walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire”

Sunny came home with a list of names
She didn’t believe in transcendence
“And it’s time for a few small repairs”, she said
Sunny came home with a vengeance

She says, “Days go by, I don’t know why
I’m walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire”

Get the kids and bring a sweater
Dry is good and wind is better
Count the years, you always knew it
Strike a match, go on and do it

“Oh, days go by, I’m hypnotized
I’m walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire”

Oh, light the sky and hold on tight
The world is burning down
She’s out there on her own, and she’s all right
Sunny came home

Sunny came home
Came home
Home

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Shawn Colvin / John Leventhal / John B Leventhal

Sunny Came Home lyrics © Wb Music Corp., Scred Songs Ltd., Lev-a-tunes

Sunny Came Home was the opening track on Shawn Colvin’s fourth album, A Few Small Repairs, which was released in October 1996 and reached #39 in the US and #100 in the UK – my purchase must have counted for something! As you will have seen, a line from this song gave the album its title. Like all of her records it is a collection of superb songs and songwriting, and she has been a favourite of mine since her very first record, Steady On, was released in October 1989. This was released as a single in June 1997, and reached #7 in the US. It didn’t chart then in the UK, but made #29 a year later when it was re-released. The album was a concept record about divorce, as Shawn’s marriage was ending at that time. The cover (shown at the top of the page) consists of a painting by her friend Julie Speed of a three-eyed woman with a lit match, which inspired her to write Sunny Came Home. Shawn apparently found the painting so arresting that she knew she wanted to use it as the cover before the songwriting and recording were done. The song won the Grammy for Song Of The Year in 1998 and just for good measure it did the double, also winning Record Of The Year, which is awarded to the performer.

Although that was a chart hit I’m guessing that it might not be familiar to some, so I’m playing one next which you probably do know:

Bette Davis Eyes was written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon, the latter of whom recorded the song that same year for her album New Arrangement. It wasn’t until Kim Carnes came along that it became a hit, however, and the synthesiser treatment was some way distant from the original’s R&B style. This version was released in March 1981 and was a huge hit, making #1 in the US (for nine weeks), Australia and Germany, and #10 in the UK, and has sold more than 1m copies both in the US and France, and 600k in the UK. It was also the lead track on her album Mistaken Identity, which came out the following month and also made #1 in the US, while peaking at #26 here in the UK. Like Shawn Colvin, Kim Carnes also did the double of winning the Grammy for both Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year in 1981. The actor Bette Davis was 73 when Kim Carnes’ version became a hit. She wrote letters to Carnes, Weiss, and DeShannon to thank them for making her “a part of modern times”, and said that her grandson now looked up to her. After their Grammy wins, she sent them all roses. A classy lady, deserving of a classic song.

I promised you three Grammy winners today, and this one completes my set of female singers winning awards. It didn’t do the double, though: it actually did a treble, winning three Grammy Awards in 2007 in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. You can tell from that last one that these awards are American, can’t you – just the 84 categories! The band are another long time favourite of mine, and I was never going to leave this one out:

Not Ready to Make Nice was released in March 2006 as the first single from the Chicks’ seventh studio album, Taking the Long Way. It is a very powerful song and the video highlights that. They wrote it in response to the backlash they experienced in 2003 after criticising President George W. Bush. Some of that was pretty extreme and frightening, and allusions to it are made in the song: however much you might disagree with someone, threatening to kill them and their children is a long way from being acceptable! The single originally peaked at #23 in the US, but re-entered the chart at #4 after the Grammy wins. It also made #3 in Canada, but only #70 in the UK. Maybe we were saving our purchases for the album, which came out in May 2006: it reached #1 in the US (both main and country charts), and also in Canada, Australia and Sweden, and got to #10 in the UK. They have never been a big chart act here, sadly, and that was their highest placing until their comeback album, Gaslighter, made #5 in 2020. I’ve been a fan for more than thirty years, and have loved just about everything they have done. I was lucky enough to see them in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, some three months after Natalie had made her first comment at another show in this country. She repeated it when I saw them and brought the house down: opposition to the war in Iraq that we were being dragged into was strong here, too.

I have said before how much I enjoy the music of many female singer-songwriters, and these are good examples of that, although one wasn’t actually performed by its writers when it won. That’s all for today, and I hope to see you again for Tuesday Tunes, with the return of a popular theme. Take care, and stay warm – it’s brass monkey weather over here 😊❄️