Ain’t No Sunshine…
From the first time I heard Bill Withers performing his Ain’t No Sunshine in the early ’70s, it has never been far from the center of my musical radar, often providing an earworm that lasts for hours or days, contributing to my mounting insanity. Imagine my delight on finding this clip from 1972.
Some sidelights to note:
- Check the drummer’s expression. Priceless… He looks like he’s on camera for the first time and just can’t contain himself. Or on an overdose of Human Smile Hormone.
- According to Wikipedia, Withers originally intended to write more lyrics for the part of the song where he repeats the phrase “I know” twenty-six times, but the other musicians told him to leave it. “I was this factory worker puttering around”, Withers said. “So when they said to leave it like that, I left it.”
- The song is featured in one of my all-time favorite movies, Notting Hill, which did not do much to diminish the song’s lustre for me.
- Ain’t No Sunshine is ranked 280th on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Enjoy!
19 Comments so far
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Great song. I know.
I won’t hold it against the song that Rolling Stone listed it. Like those people would know what was good!
Happy New Year.
By the way, thanks for posting the vid.
I’m very pleased to know you like this song, and Mr. Withers, too, Winston. We can remain friends.
I don’t know if you were visiting my place when I posted this, but I thought you might enjoy it.
Beautiful. Always found his voice very evocative, full of raw emotion.
Thanks to all for partaking of this, my first YouTube posting. I had never been able to get it to work properly until upgrading a few days ago to WordPress 2.3.2, which has the capability built in for the click of an icon.
JohnB, your post on Withers predates our little mutual blog admiration society. Good job. “…the Odysseus of R&B”, indeed… Oddly, before reading your old post, I had also started working on an idea for an Al Green post. I’ve also been thinking about Withers and specifically his rendition of “Sunshine” and it seems to me that performance is so soulful that I want to call it Soul rather than R&B. But I do not know the technical definitions and demarcations between the two.
Winston,
Thanks for the kind words on that old post.
In a discussion of Ray Charles I read some time ago, I read “soul” defined there as “secular gospel.” That works for me, says this Teutonic white boy. Think Charles’ “Hallelujah, I Love Her So.” R&B, meanwhile, tends closer to mainstream pop in its sounds.
But you’re right: the line is hard to see, as with “Ain’t No Sunshine.” That’s because soufulness is a style that can show up in any style of music, rather than a genre. I’d argue. like you, that Ain’t No Sunshine” is soul–it digs so deep, lyrically as well as vocally, it surely enters into the “spiritual but not religious” realm.
Great way to start the morning. I love how YouTube lets us really share things.
NIRVANA!….and I don’t mean the group. Thank you Winston for YouTubing us with one of my ‘all time’ favorite songs.
one of my all time favorite songs..you know?
Doesn’t anyone except me think that CCR was the greatest group ever? Am I a clod?
…. a GREAT song….. thank you…
i don’t know whether i should kiss you or kill you. classic. i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know i know.
What’s that triangle thing on his nose?
CCR was a pretty erratic band in terms of the quality of its music. I admit to a soft spot for “Fortunate Son.”
Why does twomartini’s link go to the Great Smokey Mountains air quality page?
I don’t believe Dan Fogerty was ever a member of CCR. I thought it was John Fogerty and Tom Fogerty. Of course I could be wrong.
I have a great DVD of John Fogerty recorded a few years ago with a band that sounds very much like CCR. The Dolby 5.2.1 makes it all the more enjoyable. Didn’t have that back in the 7i0’s.
Why does 2M link to the Smoky Mtn. weather live cam? Because I like to look at the Smoky’s thru the live cam and I don’t have a web site.
Maybe someday…
I, too, love this song (and Nottinghill!), Winston, so was excited to see this YouTube rendition of it. Isn’t it a great feeling to put up one’s first YouTube! I was ecstatic when I learned how to do it. And with such a great song.
Speaking of earworms, my head is spinning with them these days. There’s The Wheels on the Bus, My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean, This Old Man, Three Blind Mice, One Two Buckle My Shoe, etc. Sometimes I want to perform trepanation on myself!
I love Bill Withers, but I’m more worried about the New Hampshire primary!