"I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" | ||||
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Single by Nik Kershaw | ||||
from the album Human Racing | ||||
B-side | "Dark Glasses" | |||
Released | 9 September 1983 [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
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Label | MCA | |||
Songwriter(s) | Nik Kershaw | |||
Producer(s) | Peter Collins | |||
Nik Kershaw singles chronology | ||||
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"I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is a song by English singer-songwriter Nik Kershaw from his debut studio album, Human Racing (1984). It was his first single, released on 9 September 1983 to limited success. When re-released on 4 June 1984, the song became Kershaw's highest-charting single on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two. It features the non-album track "Dark Glasses" as the B-side, which was also released as a bonus track on the 2012 re-release of the album.
"I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was originally released on 9 September 1983. [1] After a lack of success, it was then re-released and/or re-promoted in November 1983 with a new sleeve, whereupon it entered the charts. [2] However, despite spending eight weeks in the UK top 100, it only reached number 47. Then, after the top-five success of the follow-up single, "Wouldn't It Be Good", and a further top-20 entry with "Dancing Girls", "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was re-released in June 1984 and soared to number two. It was also subsequently a commercial success in several other countries and was responsible for bringing Kershaw to greater public attention.
During an appearance on BBC One's The One Show in June 2015, Pete Waterman of Stock Aitken Waterman claimed he produced the record. Kershaw took to social media to point out that "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was in fact produced by Peter Collins, who is credited on all releases as the record's sole producer. (Waterman managed Collins at the time the song was recorded, but had no involvement in the actual production of the track.) [3]
The song was written during the latter part of the Cold War period when nuclear war between the two superpowers of the USSR and United States was still a very real concern, and the lyrics reflect a satirical view of politics and the threat of war with lines such as: "old men in stripey trousers, rule the world with plastic smiles", and: "forefinger on the button, is he blue or is he red?"
In September 1984, Kershaw told Number One magazine: [4]
It's probably not immediately obvious but "I Won't Let the Sun" is about The Bomb, or rather about people taking responsibility for what they do generally. It's saying that it probably won't do much good for one person to shout about these things but I'm going to anyway.
The song was originally written as a folk protest song, but as Kershaw's manager had signed him up to Peter Collins and Pete Waterman's Loose Ends production company, it turned into a pop anthem in the studio. [5]
In Kershaw's version, the synth tune was produced with an Oberheim OB-8 played by Paul "Wix" Wickens. [6]
There are two different music videos for the song.
The original video for "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" shows Kershaw singing the song on a hillside and in a castle. He is accompanied by children, and by a minstrel, who plays the guitar parts on a lute. The video was filmed at Allington Castle in Kent. [7]
When the song was re-released in June 1984, a new video was shot. Because Kershaw was doing promotional work in Europe, there was little time to arrange anything, so a faux live video was shot. It was interspersed with occasional shots of the old men in stripey trousers, including actor Fred Evans. [8] At one point, one of the old men picks a blue rabbit out of a guitar case. This had been sent to Kershaw by a fan named Lauren, and he placed it on stage in front of his right hand monitor during gigs, for luck. [9] Kershaw was not happy with the video, feeling it was hurried:
I'll never forget the day of the shot, it was a real pandemonium. The band was trying to rehearse -'cos we hadn't played live for so long - and do the video at the same time. It would've been a much better video if we'd had more time. The best way to shoot a live gig is over four or five nights then you might get a good set because when you're playing live, there's a lot of excitement and you can't always concentrate on every note.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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"I Won't Let the Sun Go Down" | ||||
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Single by Robin Cook | ||||
from the album Land of Sunshine | ||||
B-side | "Reggae in the Night" | |||
Released | June 1996 | |||
Genre | Reggae fusion | |||
Length | 3:20 | |||
Label | Stockholm | |||
Songwriter(s) | Nik Kershaw | |||
Robin Cook singles chronology | ||||
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Swedish producer Jonas Ekfeldt recorded his version of the song as Robin Cook in 1996, under the title "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down", which was later included on the album Land of Sunshine (1997). The song charted in Sweden for 19 weeks in 1996, peaking at number three, and in Finland for two weeks, peaking at number 16. [29]
Ekfeldt filed a lawsuit against Sveriges Radio for sampling "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down" and accused them for using the sample without permission in the parody "I Won't Let Susan Go Down on Me" on the album Rally 2 from the radio programme Rally on the channel SR P3. Sveriges Radio denied the accusations, but the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science compared the songs [30] and asserted that the former song indeed had been sampled.
The amount of Ekfeldt's compensation was not made public, but was said to be of a significant amount and a lot more than if the channel had asked for permission first. [31]
Chart (1996) | Peak position |
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Denmark (Tracklisten) [32] | 4 |
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) [33] | 16 |
Italy ( Musica e dischi ) [34] | 20 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [29] | 3 |
Chart (1996) | Position |
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Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [35] | 12 |
Michael Stock is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has been responsible for over a hundred top-40 hits in the UK, including 16 Number One's and is recognised as one of the most successful songwriters of all time by the Guinness World Records. As part of Stock Aitken Waterman in the 1980s and 90s, he holds the UK record of 11 number one records with different acts. In the UK Singles Chart he has written 54 top-ten hits including 7 number ones.
Stock Aitken Waterman are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through to the early-1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time by the Guinness World Records, scoring more than 100 UK Top 40 hits and earning an estimated £60 million in royalties. The trio had 13 UK No. 1 singles including three consecutive UK No. 1's and three US No. 1 singles. They also had at least one record in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart every week between March 1986 and October 1990.
Nicholas David Kershaw is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the decade, including "Wouldn't It Be Good", "Dancing Girls", "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "Human Racing", "The Riddle", "Wide Boy", "Don Quixote", and "When a Heart Beats". His 62 weeks on the UK Singles Chart through 1984 and 1985 beat all other solo artists. Kershaw appeared at the multi-venue benefit concert Live Aid in 1985 and has also penned a number of hits for other artists, including a UK No. 1 single in 1991 for Chesney Hawkes, "The One and Only".
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