Song 44:
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill
Withers
Peak: 3
Year: 1971
Year end position: 23
Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/3
Chronological Songs by Artist: 1/3
Video?: No
Wikipedia?: Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ain't_No_Sunshine
Spotify?: Yes
If you remember yesterday’s song, and
especially if you are following along on a playlist, this song will come as a
stark contrast. Yesterday’s song “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now” was about as
positive a song as we have had on the blog so far. Today’s song is a vast
departure from that mindset.
Today’s song is “Ain’t No Sunshine”,
and if the title doesn’t give it away, this song is a bit of a downer.
Don’t get me wrong, I really, really like this song, but let’s just say that
it’s probably not going to be played at many pep rallies or weddings anytime
soon. It’s also the 9th song in our “Ain’t” caravan and the 4th
straight “Ain’t No” song. The title, like all the “Ain’t No” songs should
really be “Isn’t Any Sunshine”.
I did some analysis and this is the
first of 38 songs that features some variation of “Sun”, whether it be
“Sunset”, “Sunshine” or “Sun”. I decided not to count songs that featured
the word “Sunday” or “Sunglasses”. I also didn’t count “Sunny Came Home”
since “Sunny” in that instance was a person, and not the celestial orb.
It’s interesting to see the titles. You may think that songs featuring
the sun would be positive, but that doesn’t always seem to be the case.
There’s “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and “Seasons in the Sun” and “The Sun
Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)”, which are mostly downers mixed in with such
upbeat sun songs like “Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows”, “Walking on Sunshine”
and “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”. I think as a group, the songs are mostly
positive, but it’s interesting to look at. Maybe there’s a “sun” playlist
in the making. That might be interesting.
This particular song is the first time
we will hear from Bill Withers. He was just recently inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he is a far cry from making it into my Hall of
Fame. He only had 3 songs that I credited to him make the top 20 (I
credited “Just the Two of Us” to Grover Washington Jr.). His 3 songs came
in quick succession between 1971 & 1972. He then had marginal success
on the pop charts, although he still had a pretty good career on the R&B
charts. Part of that disappearance, I think, is due to the fact that the
record label he recorded for in his early years, Sussex Records, folded.
They seem to have been quite the good luck charm for Bill.
If you remember back in the post for
“Ain’t it Funny”, I mentioned that I had come across a few songs that were
inspired by movies that didn’t include the song on the soundtrack. Today
is another example of that. The movie that inspired this song was “Days
of Wine and Roses”, which came out 9 years before this song. In that
movie, the main characters are both alcoholics who can’t seem to break from one
another, even though it’s probably in their best interests if they do. I
came across this quote from Bill talking about it: “It's just
something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something
else that happened in my life that I'm not aware of." I love that
quote. I love that he leaves open the possibility that he tapped into
something internal that even he can’t put his finger on.
The lyrics are pretty dark. The song is about the feelings that the
singer feels when the woman leaves him. Things are really bleak for
him. Not only is there no sunshine, it’s “only darkness every day”.
There are two parts to this song that you may remember if you are familiar with
the song. The first is that there’s no introduction music. As soon
as the song starts, Bill Withers is singing. That makes the song
particularly bad for DJs that want to play this song. You get to jump
straight into the song with no warning. I’ve heard that the reason he did
it that way was because no one ever told him not to, and he really didn’t know
what he was doing when he recorded it. The second part that you may be
familiar with is the 3rd verse. In that verse, it is just Bill
singing “I know” 26 times. My interpretation of that verse is that the
singer is so depressed that this is about as far as his thoughts can get.
He knows that he should be completing a thought, but he can’t do it. It
takes him a long time before he can gather himself together to finish whatever
he meant to say. In reality, Bill Withers wrote it like that as filler,
with the idea that he would replace the “I know”s with other actual lyrics in
the future. After he played it like that, the people he was working with
told him that it sounded great and that he should keep it. That seems
like it was a good move. I like it. It’s an interesting effect, and
it gives an already good song just a little more character.
So, if you are in the mood to wallow in the blues, this song should make
you feel right at home. The nice thing about it is that at just a little
over 2 minutes long, you can satisfy that urge, but you don’t have to stay
there all that long.
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