I’d been thinking about changing the theme this week, but as our heatwave is forecast to return again for several more days I thought I’d take this for a final spin – for now. I already have next week’s theme chosen but for now here are three more sunshine songs, two sun ones, and a heat one that somehow crept in there too. So that’s a bonus six songs for this week. All bar one have appeared here before, though at least two or three years ago, so I don’t feel guilty about playing them again – after all, if I were one of those oldies radio stations you’d be getting them every hour!

Let’s start with a rock classic, shall we. This takes me right back to my teenage days. I haven’t been able to find a decent video for it, so it will have to be an audio-only one, but it is still a great song from a band that were all too short-lived

As I expect you may well know, Cream were a British rock band formed in London in 1966. The group consisted of bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker. Jack was the primary songwriter and vocalist, although Eric and Ginger contributed too. Sunshine Of Your Love was a track on their second album, Disraeli Gears, which was released in November 1967 and got to #5 in the UK and #4 in the US. This track was taken from it as a single the following month, and peaked at #25 in the UK and #5 in the US. The song was co-written by Jack and Eric, along with frequent collaborator Pete Brown, and the two of them share lead vocals. This has long been a favourite of mine, as were the band, who gave us four albums in a little over two years and then went off to do other things, as you may have noticed.

Today’s second tune is another favourite, this time from the Seventies. I already had this on my list but as it was suggested in comments last week (thank you, Stevie) it just had to go in today. I have only played it once before, two years ago, and while it isn’t exactly imaginative in its lyrics, it is such a happy sound:

Osibisa are a Ghanaian-British Afro-rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians. They are still officially in existence, though only two of those original seven members are still with us. The band released albums up to 2009, and then returned with another in 2021. A couple of their early records both reached #11 in the UK Albums chart, and Sunshine Day was their best performing single, getting to #17 in January 1976. It’s happy and fun, and I’ve always rather liked it.

Taking the pace down a notch for my next one. This is, as regular readers will know, one of my favourite bands, and while it isn’t exactly a summery song I’ll take any excuse I can to play them:

As I have said when I shared Sun Comes Up It’s Tuesday Morning before (at least twice!), I find the beauty of Margo Timmins and her voice irresistible. The Cowboy Junkies come from Canada, and still have 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. I think this is beautiful, and the video has a lovely feel to it, even though the song is actually 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! It was on their 1990 album Caution Horses, which reached #11 in Canada, #33 here, and #47 in the US. This track 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: there is nothing wrong with that, and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this one again.

What to play next? How about some prog rockers going for the pop charts? Try this:

Asia were a UK prog rock supergroup, formed by former members of King Crimson, Yes, and Emerson, Lake And Palmer. Heat Of The Moment was the opening track on their debut album, Asia, released in March 1982, which gave the band instant success. I bought the album and played it a lot at the time, less so since then. The album topped the charts in the US, but had to make do with a peak of #11 in the UK. This track was released the following month as the lead single from it, and got to #4 in the US. It only reached #46 here in the UK, though: I guess we saw them as an albums band, given its members’ previous history. Their 1983 follow up Alpha went to #5 in the UK and #6 in the US, but after that sales fell sharply: I guess the title of this one was somewhat prescient for them!

I promised you a previously unplayed track, didn’t I. This is an old song, but I love this fairly recent version of it:

I’ve played The Dead South before – you may remember their superb video for their own song, In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company – and they put their own Americana/alt-folk stamp on a song that ranks as a standard by any measure you take. Wikipedia calls them a ‘folk-bluegrass musical ensemble’ who are based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The band was initially formed in 2012 as a quartet by Nate Hilts (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Scott Pringle (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Danny Kenyon (cello, bass, vocals) and Colton Crawford (banjo). Crawford left the band in 2015 and was replaced by studio musician Eliza Mary Doyle before rejoining in 2018, and that is the lineup you see here. As far as I can tell they haven’t had any real chart success but have won several awards in Canada: eight wins from ten nominations, including two of their prestigious Juno Awards.

The song, You Are My Sunshine, is an American standard of old-time and country music and is the state song of Louisiana. Its original writer is disputed, but it is known to have been written and recorded as early as 1939: it was first published and copyrighted in 1940 by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell. According to the performance rights organisation BMI, by the year 2000 the song had been recorded by over 350 artists and translated into 30 languages. The Dead South released their version in 2021 on a six track EP, Easy Listening For Jerks, Part 1, which was a set of covers of older songs – Part 2 was comprised of songs by the likes of The Doors and System Of A Down. A fairly eclectic mix!

I feel like closing this week – and this mini-series – with a bit of Stevie Wonder. He has two prime candidates, and I’m choosing to play what I think might be the slightly less obvious one:

A Place In The Sun was quite possibly the first Stevie Wonder song to contain an element of social conscience, I think, although it wasn’t one of his own: 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, probably even more so than when the record first came out:

“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“

I closed a post with this song and message when I first played it, back in 2021, and it just feels so right to do that again. I must be getting philosophical in my old age!

One final thing. As ‘summer songs’ is this week’s theme I’m linking this to Cathy’s link party, which you can find here. There is a proper link for it but it was too complicated for an old dodderer like me!

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s tunes, and the whole series of five posts, and will see you again next Tuesday with a new theme, as promised. And I’ll also be back in a couple of days and on Sunday. See you then? Hope so 😊