SONG OF THE DAY
“Sunny” by Bobby Hebb (single, Philips Records, 1966).
WHY TODAY?
I just found out that Bobby Hebb died in 2010, and wanted to pay him tribute. This is one of the strongest song memories from my childhood, it immediately throws me back into summer, looking out the window into the backyard, my clock radio playing Oldies 104.3 WOMC, playing alone in my room during the afternoon sun’s hottest hours. This is a song I truly will always love.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Sunny” is the name of a song written by Bobby Hebb.
– It is one of the most covered popular songs, with hundreds of versions released.
– BMI rates “Sunny” number 25 in its “Top 100 songs of the century”.
– Hebb wrote the song after 22 November 1963, the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Hebb’s older brother Harold was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and many critics say that those events inspired the tune.
– According to Hebb, he wrote the song as an expression of a preference for a “sunny” disposition over a “lousy” disposition. Hebb has said about “Sunny”:
“All my intentions were just to think of happier times – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low tide. After I wrote it, I thought “Sunny” just might be a different approach to what Johnny Bragg was talking about in ‘Just Walkin’ in the Rain'”.
– “Sunny” was originally part of an 18-song demo recorded by producer Jerry Ross, also famous for Spanky and Our Gang, Keith’s “98.6” and Jay and the Techniques (Hebb was the first artist to cover “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie”, in fact, but didn’t want to be considered a novelty act and let the song go to Jay Proctor).
– “Sunny” was first recorded in Japan by Mieko “Miko” Hirota – the “Connie Francis of Japan”, where it was said to have done well on the charts.
– In America it was released by marimbaphonist Dave Pike on Atlantic Records in 1966 on the “Jazz for the Jet Set” album, well before Philips released Hebb’s 45 version produced by Ross and arranged by Joe Renzetti.
– “Sunny” was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City and released as a single in 1966. It met an immediate success, which resulted in Hebb touring in 1966 with The Beatles.
– Many other artists have recorded versions of the song, including Cher, James Brown, Boney M., the Classics IV, Jose Feliciano, Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, The Four Seasons, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Jamiroquai, Johnny Mathis, Leonard Nimoy, Wilson Pickett, Del Shannon, Nick Cave, Oscar Peterson with Joe Pass and Ray Brown, Dusty Springfield, War, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington on their collaborative album, Francis A. & Edward K., and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.