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The song was covered as a [[Hard rock music|hard rock]] version on the [[Goo Goo Dolls]]'s [[eponymous]] debut album.
The song was covered as a [[Hard rock music|hard rock]] version on the [[Goo Goo Dolls]]'s [[eponymous]] debut album.


Also, this song received a rapcore version in [[Thousand Foot Krutch]]'s first album, ''[[That's What People Do]]''.
"Sunshyne" on [[Thousand Foot Krutch]]'s first album, ''[[That's What People Do]]'' is mostly based on the song.


The Syracuse, New York straight edge hardcore group Earth Crisis, covered the song on their live album ''The Oath That Keeps Me Free''.
The Syracuse, New York straight edge hardcore group Earth Crisis, covered the song on their live album ''The Oath That Keeps Me Free''.

Revision as of 04:00, 16 March 2011

For the Ella Fitzgerald album, see Sunshine of Your Love (album).
"Sunshine of Your Love"
Song
B-side"SWLABR"

"Sunshine of Your Love" is a song by the British supergroup Cream. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears in November 1967,[2] and was later released as a single in January 1968.[1] It was Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States.[4] It features a distinctive guitar/bass guitar riff and an acclaimed guitar solo from Eric Clapton.[5][6][7] It was written by bassist Jack Bruce, lyricist Pete Brown, and Clapton.

Development

Development of the song began when Bruce and Clapton attended a Jimi Hendrix show at the Saville Theatre in London. After the concert, Bruce returned home and wrote the riff that runs throughout the song.[8] Most of the lyrics to "Sunshine of Your Love" were written during an all-night creative session between Bruce and Brown, a poet who worked with the band: "I picked up my double bass and played the riff. Pete looked out the window and the sun was coming up. He wrote 'It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes…'"[9] Clapton later wrote the song's bridge which also yielded the song's title.[8]

Clapton's guitar tone on the song is created using his 1964 Gibson SG guitar and a Marshall amplifier. It is also believed that a Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah is placed fully in the bass position for the solo section. The song is renowned among guitarists as perhaps the best example of his legendary late-'60s "woman tone", a thick yet articulate sound that many have tried to emulate. For the solo Clapton quoted the opening lines from the pop standard "Blue Moon," creating a contrast between the sun and the moon.

Drummer Ginger Baker is said to have came up with the song's tempo, which was based on African drumming.[8] Engineer Tom Dowd later claimed to have suggested the drum part, but Baker insists that he was indeed the one who came up with the drum pattern and didn't receive writing credit: "not even a thank you!"[10]

Cream's American record label, Atlantic, did not like the song originally and was not going to release it, but the people at Atlantic changed their mind when Booker T. Jones (of Booker T. & the M.G.'s) said that he liked the song.[8]

Charts

Chart (1968) Peak
position
Canada (RPM)[11] 3
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 25
US Billboard Hot 100[13] 5

The song appears on the soundtracks of the movies School of Rock, Goodfellas, Uncommon Valor, and True Lies. The opening riff also appeared at the end of the Futurama episode "The 30% Iron Chef" after Bender offers to make the crew a brunch laced with LSD. The riff also appears in The Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson", played when Mona Simpson sees Joe Namath's long hair. In the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club, the opening riff is air-guitared by character John Bender. It is a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It is also in the Johnny Knoxville movie The Ringer.

Legacy

In 2004, the song was ranked #65 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[14] In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Sunshine of Your Love" at number 19 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2009 it was named the 44th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[15] The song is also a part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll list.[16]

Solo versions

Jack Bruce performed the track live at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester on June 1, 1975 and released it on Live '75.[17] Another live version was released on Cities of the Heart and was performed during Jack's 50th birthday concerts in 1993.[18]

Jack Bruce also recorded the song with Peter Frampton on guitar on the Ringo Starr All-Starr Band tour 1997-1998.

On the Jack Bruce album Shadows in the Air the song was covered with Eric Clapton on guitar.[19]

Cover versions

Jimi Hendrix performed "Sunshine of Your Love" as a setlist staple throughout his 1968 and 1969 concerts, employing wailing guitar riffs in place of the lyrics and ending the song by dramatically slowing the tempo to a grinding halt, as well as including leitmotifs from other Cream songs such as "Outside Woman Blues". Recordings of the song can be found on Experience Vol. 1, The Last Experience Concert: Live at the Royal Albert Hall as well as the 2010 release Valleys of Neptune in their entirety (slightly less than seven minutes) and in a truncated version on BBC Sessions. During a January 1969 appearance on the "Happening for Lulu" television show, Hendrix halted his band near the end of the set and broke into "Sunshine of Your Love", running the show past its scheduled end time. This moment inspired Elvis Costello's rendition of "Radio Radio" on Saturday Night Live in 1977.

Blood, Sweat & Tears also used the riff in their song "Blues Part II," and a cappella singer Bobby McFerrin recorded a voice instrumental version of the song on the album Simple Pleasures (1988), in which he replicates Clapton's guitar solo using only his vocals and some effects processing. Ella Fitzgerald also recorded a version in 1968. The trippiness of her rendition might be compared with that of The 5th Dimension's, which appeared on the vocal group's The Age of Aquarius LP. A version (with some sexually-charged lyric changes) performed by Frank Zappa (and band) appears on his The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life album, along with a cover of Hendrix' frequent staple "Purple Haze" and a number of other covers.

English sludge band Fudge Tunnel recorded it on their album Hate Songs in E Minor in the 1990s.

Living Colour recorded their take on the song in 1994 for the True Lies soundtrack, which also appears on their Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of Living Colour 2006 compilation album.

"Sunshine of Your Love" was also given a skanking up-tempo cover by Bim Skala Bim on the Tuba City (1989) album.

Hardcore band Earth Crisis released a live version on their Best-Of album Forever True.

The song was also covered by Ozzy Osbourne on his 2005 cover album Under Cover.

Former Kyuss drummer Brant Bjork covered this song with his band Brant Bjork and the Bros on their double-album Saved by Magic.

The riff appears at the end of the noise section of "Dead Bob" by Nomeansno on the album Sex Mad. It is also borrowed by Alexander 'Skip' Spence at the end of the song "War In Peace" from his 1969 cult album Oar.

A hard rock cover of the song can be heard in the third season of Family Guy the episode of "Mr. Saturday Knight".

Funkadelic recorded a cover of the song for their album By Way of the Drum in 1984, but this album was shelved until its release in 2007.

Trini Lopez included "Sunshine Of Your Love" on his Reprise Records album The Whole Enchilada (Reprise 6337).

The song was covered as a hard rock version on the Goo Goo Dolls's eponymous debut album.

"Sunshyne" on Thousand Foot Krutch's first album, That's What People Do is mostly based on the song.

The Syracuse, New York straight edge hardcore group Earth Crisis, covered the song on their live album The Oath That Keeps Me Free.

American rock band Toto covered it on their 2002 cover album Through the Looking Glass.

Elvis Costello and The Police covered "Sunshine of Your Love" for Costello's show Spectacle: Elvis Costello with....

Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, James Franco and Shaun Weiss perform the song various times in Freaks and Geeks during the episode I'm With the Band.

Chilly played a disco version of the song on the album Come to L.A. in 1978.

Australian guitarist and singer Orianthi covered the song for Believe (II), the re-release of her album Believe.

Carlos Santana covered the song on his 2010 album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time. The song features vocals by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty (Thomas had previously appeared on Santana's "Smooth" in 1999). It is currently the second-most popular Santana song on iTunes despite it not being released as a single.

Mahavishnu Orchestra use the main riff in the Track "Dream" on the 1973 live album Between Nothingness and Eternity.

Japanese guitarist and singer Tomoyasu Hotei covered the song for the album GUITARHYTHM V in 2009.

The American soul, funk and jazz vocalist Spanky Wilson recorded a version on her 1968 album Doin' It. It is still a favourite on the Northern Soul scene.

References

  1. ^ a b Strong, Charles (2002) [Originally published in 1994]. The Great Rock Discography (Sixth ed.). United Kingdom: Canongate Books. p. 323. ISBN 1841953121.
  2. ^ a b c Disraeli Gears (Media notes). United Kingdom: Polydor Records. 1967. p. 2. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |albumlink= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |artist= ignored (|others= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |publisherid= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Atco Records Single 45-6544
  4. ^ a b RIAA Certification Search Set Format to "SINGLe" and type "Cream" under Artist to see results.
  5. ^ [1].
  6. ^ [2].
  7. ^ [3] Click Eric Clapton to see the ranking.
  8. ^ a b c d Schumacher, Michael (1995). "Chapter 4: Power Trio (1966-68)". Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton (1st ed.). New York City, New York: Hyperion. p. 89, 90. ISBN 078686074X.
  9. ^ "The Birth of Rock". Seven Ages of Rock. Season 1. Episode 1. BBC. BBC2. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |began=, |city=, |ended=, and |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |seriesno= ignored (|series-number= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Moormann, Mark. Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. 2003, Language of Music Films.
  11. ^ "RPM - Item Display: Top Singles - Volume 9, No. 26, August 26 1968" (PHP). Library and Archives Canada. March 31, 2004.
  12. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  13. ^ "Cream - Billboard Singles". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 11, 2010.
  14. ^ Jann S. Wenner, ed. (December 9, 2004). "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone (963). United States: Jann S. Wenner. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. {{cite journal}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; June 22, 2008 suggested (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |journal= (help)
  15. ^ "spreadit.org music". Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  16. ^ "The 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010.
  17. ^ http://www.jackbruce.com/2008/Music/Albums/live_75.htm
  18. ^ http://www.jackbruce.com/2008/Music/Albums/cities_of_the_heart.htm
  19. ^ http://www.jackbruce.com/2008/Music/Albums/shadows_in_the_air.htm


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