"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream. With elements of hard rock and psychedelia, it is one of Cream's best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce based it on a distinctive bass riff he developed after attending a Jimi Hendrix concert. Guitarist Eric Clapton and lyricist Pete Brown later contributed to the song and drummer Ginger Baker plays a distinctive tom-tom drum rhythm.
The song was included on Cream's best-selling second album Disraeli Gears in November 1967. Atco Records, the group's American label, was initially unsure of the song's potential. After recommendations by other label-affiliated artists, it released an edited single version in December 1967.[lower-alpha 1] The song became Cream's first and highest charting American single and one of the most popular singles of 1968. In September 1968, it became a modest chart hit after being released in the UK.
Cream performed "Sunshine of Your Love" regularly in concert and several live recordings have been issued, including on the Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005 reunion album and video. Hendrix performed faster instrumental versions of the song, which he often dedicated to Cream. Several rock journals have placed the song on their greatest song lists, such as Rolling Stone, Q magazine, and VH1. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it on its list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".
In early 1967, Cream were writing and rehearsing songs for a second album. Their December 1966 debut album, Fresh Cream, was a mix of updated blues numbers and pop-oriented rock songs.[5] Inspired by recent developments in rock music, the group began pursuing a more overtly psychedelic direction.[6][7] "Sunshine of Your Love" began as a bass phrase or riff developed by Cream bassist Jack Bruce. Cream attended a concert on 29 January 1967 by the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Saville Theatre in London.[8] Cream guitarist Eric Clapton elaborated in a 1988 Rolling Stone magazine interview:
He [Hendrix] played this gig that was blinding. I don't think Jack [Bruce] had really taken him in before... and when he did see it that night, after the gig he went home and came up with the riff. It was strictly a dedication to Jimi. And then we wrote a song on top of it.[8]
Music writers Covach and Boone describe the riff as blues-derived, using a minor blues pentatonic scale with an added flattened fifth note (or common blues scale).[9] The song follows a blues chord progression (I–IV–I) during the first eight bars.[9] Brown had a difficult time writing lyrics that fit the riff.[10] After an all-night session, Bruce played it on a standup bass while lyricist Pete Brown was staring out the window.[10] Slowly, he started to write "It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes", which is used in the first verse.[11] Later, to break up the rhythm, Clapton wrote a refrain which also yielded the song's title.[11][9] It consists of eight-bar sections using three chords, when the key shifts to the V chord (I = V):[12]
I
♭III–♭VII
I
♭III–♭VII
I
♭III–♭VII
I
I
A bootleg recording from the Ricky-Tick club in London before Cream recorded the song in the studio, shows "Sunshine of Your Love" with a beat common to rock for the period.[11] Cream drummer Ginger Baker compared it to the uptempo "Hey Now, Princess", another Bruce-Brown composition Cream recorded in March.[13] He said that he advised Bruce to slow it down and came up with the distinctive drum pattern which emphasises beats one and three[13][10] (typical rock drumming favours beats two and four and is known as the backbeat).[14] However, Bruce and recording engineerTom Dowd dispute Baker's claim, which they say he only made much later.[13][11] Dowd later explained
Where all the other songs that they [Cream] played were prepared, [but] this one song, they never found a pocket, they were never comfortable... I said, 'You know, have you ever seen any American Westerns [films that have] the Indian beat, where the downbeat is the beat?'... And when he [Ginger] started playing it that way, all of the parts came together and right away they were elated.[13]
Recording
Cream performed their first American concerts in New York City in 1967. Robert Stigwood, the group's manager, booked them for a Murray the K package show at the RKO Manhattan Theatre from 25 March to 2 April 1967.[15] When it was finished, Stigwood arranged for a recording session with Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Studios.[13] Bruce and Brown had a number of new songs[16] in various stages of development and entered the studio on 3 April.[13] Initially, Ertegun assigned Dowd to work with the trio.[17] Dowd had worked with many of the biggest jazz and rhythm and blues musicians in the 1950s and 1960s.[17] However, Cream was his first exposure to extreme volume levels.[18] The group arrived at Atlantic with their concert setup of multiple Marshall amplifiers (each 100 watts).[18][lower-alpha 3] Dowd was surprised by the amount of equipment accompanying the trio: "They recorded at ear-shattering level... Everyone I'd worked with before was using Fender Deluxes [about 20 watts] or Twins [about 80 watts]—six- and seven-piece bands that didn't play as loud as this three piece did."[18]
Ertegun brought in producer Felix Pappalardi, who he believed could work as a go-between with the group and Dowd.[18] They began with "Strange Brew", "Tales of Brave Ulysses", and "Sunshine of Your Love".[20] Ertegun previewed the demos and was unhappy, expecting blues-based material like that to be found on Fresh Cream.[21]Jerry Wexler, Ertegun's Atlantic Records partner, reportedly went as far as to call it "psychedelic hogwash".[16] However, Booker T. Jones (producer and keyboardist of Booker T. & the M.G.'s) and Otis Redding (both whose Stax recordings at the time were distributed by Atco parent Atlantic) gave "Sunshine of Your Love" their wholehearted approval.[21] Differences were smoothed over by the time Cream returned in May 1967 to finish recording the songs for Disraeli Gears.[16][lower-alpha 4]
With Pappalardi and Dowd, work continued on "Sunshine of Your Love". For his guitar solo, Clapton used a sound known as the "woman tone",[19] which is described as "smooth, dark, singing, sustaining", by author Mitch Gallagher.[23] The actual guitar that Clapton used has been identified as a 1964 Gibson SG, known as "the Fool".[19][24][lower-alpha 5] It is one of the best-known examples of the woman tone and quotes the melody from the perennial pop standard "Blue Moon".[23][26] By using the song's major pentatonic scale, Clapton provides a contrast with the riff's blues scale.[27] A writer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes this as "creating a balance between the sun and the moon".[28]
Baker plays much of the song on the tom-toms,[29] described as sounding African (Schumacher)[10] and Native American (Shapiro).[11] Covach and Boone note he "concentrates on the lower tom sounds and uses an articulation and sound reminiscent of the jazz drumming in the Woody Herman or Benny Goodman bands".[12]
Releases and charts
"Sunshine of Your Love" was included as the second track on Disraeli Gears, which was released in November 1967 by Reaction Records in the UK and Atco Records in the US.[30] At first, Atco did not see the song as a single ("Strange Brew", backed with "Tales of Brave Ulysses" had been released as a single in June 1967).[30] However, in December 1967, the label issued an edited version of the song as the second single from the album, backed with "SWLABR"[lower-alpha 1] (the running time was trimmed from 4:08 to 3:03).[31] It entered Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart on 13 January 1968, reaching number 36 during its initial 14-week run.[32] The record re-entered the chart on 6 July 1968 and reached number five on 31 August 1968.[32] In the UK, the single was not released until September 1968,[30] after Cream had announced their impending breakup. Polydor Records issued the UK single, which reached number 25 in the charts.[33][lower-alpha 2]
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the single gold on 26 September 1968, signifying sales in excess of 1,000,000 copies.[41] In the US, it became one of the best selling singles of 1968 and one of the best-selling at the time for the Atlantic group of labels.[42] As one of Cream's most popular songs, several of the group's compilation albums include the full-length studio recording, such as Best of Cream, Heavy Cream, The Very Best of Cream, and the boxed set Those Were the Days.[37] In the United Kingdom, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the song gold in September 2022, denoting sales and streaming figures exceeding 400,000 units.[43]
Recognition and influence
In 2004, the song ranked number 65 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[44] In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Sunshine of Your Love" at number 19 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever!"[45] In 2009, VH1 included it at number 44 on its list of the "Top 100 Hard Rock Songs".[3] The song is on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[46]
Ertegun later admitted that, while his tastes ran more to Robert Johnson (Clapton had recorded Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind" with John Mayall, "Crossroads" with the Powerhouse, and "Four Until Late" with Cream), Cream's and Pappalardi's vision resulted in songs which had a much larger impact on the rock audiences of the time.[13] Covach and Boone identified "Sunshine of Your Love" as foreshadowing future trends in rock:
'Sunshine of Your Love', Cream's best-known song, is a culmination of the British adaptation of blues into rock and also the direct precursor of Led Zeppelin and heavy metal, where this type of blues-based motivic riff and harmonic motions like A–C–G or E–G–A (as in "Whole Lotta Love") serve as the basis for a seemingly endless number of songs.[47]
Other recordings
Several live recordings of "Sunshine of Your Love" have been issued on Cream albums.[37] These include a 24 October 1967 recording by the BBC (BBC Sessions), 9 March 1968 at the Winterland Ballroom (Live Cream Volume II), and 26 November 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall (Cream's Farewell Concert).[37] A recording from Cream's reunion show on 3 May 2005 is included on Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005.[37] During their post-Cream careers, Clapton and Bruce recorded several live performances of the song.[37]
A variety of musicians have recorded "Sunshine of Your Love".[37] After Cream announced their breakup, Hendrix often performed it in concert as a tribute to the group, apparently unaware that they had dedicated the song to him.[48] He played it as an instrumental and sometimes as part of a medley.[49] A performance by the Experience on 4 January 1969 is one of the best-known.[50] During the live broadcast of A Happening for Lulu, a music variety show hosted by pop singer Lulu on BBC Television, the Experience suddenly broke with the programme.[50] Hendrix announced, "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish ["Hey Joe"] and dedicate a song to the Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in – dedicate this to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce".[51] As their performance of "Sunshine of Your Love" ran into the time allotted for Lulu's closing number, the show's producer and staff were frantically signalling for the Experience to stop. However, they continued playing and the show ended on a fade.[50] Hendrix later apologised to Lulu, who thought the performance made for a great television moment.[52]
Notes
Footnotes
1 2 3 Although several music writers indicate a January 1968 or 1968 release, including Bobby Owsinski, Riley Haas, Chris Welch, and Bob Leszczak, the single entered the Cash BoxLooking Ahead chart dated 30 December 1967, precluding the possibility of a January 1968 release.[4]
1 2 Several Polydor Records singles issued outside of the US show running times close to the album track.
↑ Cream's equipment was painted in psychedelic designs and colours by the Dutch design collective the Fool and was first used at the Murray the K shows. Clapton's 1964 Gibson SG Standard (also called "the Fool"), Bruce's Fender Bass VI, and Baker's drums were painted to match.[19]
↑ Pappalardi was so upset with Atlantic's reaction to Cream's early recordings, when he joined Leslie West to form Mountain, he chose to work with another record label.[22]
↑ A caption in Robb Lawrence's 2008 book, The Early Years of the Les Paul Legacy 1915–1963 suggests that Clapton used a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Custom based on the tone: "You can hear the distinctively different tone achieved from this [Les Paul Custom] all-mahogany body in comparison to a maple-top Les Paul", although he does not compare it to the SG, which also has an all-mahogany body.[25]
Cream were a British rock band formed in London in 1966. The group consisted of bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker. Bruce was the primary songwriter and vocalist, although Clapton and Baker contributed to songs. Formed by members of previously successful bands, they are widely considered the first supergroup. Cream were highly regarded for the instrumental proficiency of each of their members.
"Purple Haze" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and released as the second single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on March 17, 1967, in the United Kingdom. The song features his inventive guitar playing, which uses the signature Hendrix chord and a mix of blues and Eastern modalities, shaped by novel sound processing techniques. Because of ambiguities in the lyrics, listeners often interpret the song as referring to a psychedelic experience, although Hendrix described it as a love song. It was included as the opening track in the North American edition of the Experience's debut album, Are You Experienced (1967).
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is the only studio album by the English–American rock band Derek and the Dominos, released on 9 November 1970 as a double album by Polydor Records and Atco Records. It is best known for its title track, "Layla", which is often regarded as Eric Clapton's greatest musical achievement. The other band members were Bobby Whitlock, Jim Gordon, and Carl Radle (bass). Duane Allman played lead and slide guitar on 11 of the 14 songs.
Wheels of Fire is the third album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in the US in June 1968 as a two-disc vinyl LP, with one disc recorded in the studio and the other recorded live. It was released in the UK on August 9. It reached number three in the United Kingdom and number one in the United States, Canada and Australia, becoming the world's first platinum-selling double album. In May 2012, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 205 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was voted number 757 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).
Goodbye is the fourth and final studio album by Cream, with three tracks recorded live, and three recorded in the studio. It was released in Europe by Polydor Records and by Atco Records in the United States, debuting in Billboard on 15 February 1969. It reached number one in the United Kingdom and number two in the United States. A single, "Badge", was subsequently released from the album a month later. The album was released after Cream disbanded in November 1968.
Disraeli Gears is the second studio album by the British rock band Cream. It was released in November 1967 and reached No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart., and No. 1 on the Swedish and Finnish charts. The album was also No. 1 for two weeks on the Australian album chart and was listed as the No. 1 album of 1968 by Cash Box in the year-end album chart in the United States. The album features the singles "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love", as well as their respective B-sides "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "SWLABR".
"Little Wing" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967. It is a slower tempo, rhythm and blues-inspired ballad featuring Hendrix's vocal and guitar with recording studio effects accompanied by bass, drums, and glockenspiel. Lyrically, it is one of several of his songs that reference an idealized feminine or guardian angel-like figure. At about two and a half minutes in length, it is one of his most concise and melodically focused pieces.
"Red House" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and one of the first songs recorded in 1966 by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It has the musical form of a conventional twelve-bar blues and features Hendrix's guitar playing. He developed the song prior to forming the Experience and was inspired by earlier blues songs.
"Tales of Brave Ulysses" is a song recorded in 1967 by British group Cream. It was released as the B-side to the "Strange Brew" single in June 1967. In November, the song was included on Cream's second album, Disraeli Gears. The song features one of the earliest uses of a wah-wah pedal, which guitarist Eric Clapton plays throughout the song. Cream's song "White Room" copies the chord progression to a large extent.
"Cross Road Blues" is a song written by the American blues artist Robert Johnson. He performed it as a solo piece with his vocal and acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues-style. The song has become part of the Robert Johnson mythology as referring to the place where he supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his musical talent. This is based largely on folklore of the American South that identifies a crossroads as the site where such pacts are made, although the lyrics do not contain any references to Satan or a Faustian bargain.
"SWLABR" is a song recorded by the British rock band Cream in 1967. It first appeared on the album Disraeli Gears (1967). Later, the song was the B-side to Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" single.
Bleeding Heart is one of several names given to albums of a 1968 jam session with Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and others. The albums were fashioned from an informal two-track tape recording made by Hendrix which was subsequently stolen from his apartment. The jam took place at the Scene, a nightclub in New York City, and various dates and participants have been suggested. Although it presents a unique setting, critics and biographers have generally found fault with the sound quality and Morrison's performance.
"Bold as Love" is the title track of Axis: Bold as Love, the second album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The song, which closes the album, was written by Jimi Hendrix and produced by band manager Chas Chandler.
Eric Clapton at His Best is a two-LP compilation of Eric Clapton's work after he left his earlier band Cream, released in September 1972. It was concurrently released with a two-LP compilation of Cream tracks, Heavy Cream, along with "at His Best" solo retrospectives by Cream's other members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.
"Are You Experienced?" is the title track from the Jimi Hendrix Experience's 1967 debut album. It has been described as one of Jimi Hendrix's most original compositions on the album by music writer and biographer Keith Shadwick. The song is largely based on one chord and has a drone-like quality reminiscent of Indian classical music. It features recorded guitar and drum parts that are played backwards and a repeating piano octave. Live recordings from 1968 are included on The Jimi Hendrix Concerts album and Winterland box set.
Songs for a Tailor is the 1969 debut solo album by the Scottish musician, composer and singer Jack Bruce, who was already famous at the time of its release for his work with the supergroup Cream. Originally released on the Polydor label in Europe and on Atco Records in the U.S., Songs for a Tailor was the second solo album that Bruce recorded, though he did not release the first, Things We Like, for another year.
Best of Cream is a compilation album of material recorded from 1966 to 1968 by the rock band Cream, and released shortly after their disbanding. The album was originally released by Cream's U.S. label Atco (Atlantic) Records, and was available on that label during the years 1969–1972. The album was briefly reissued in the U.S. in 1977 by RSO/Polydor Records, to whom U.S. distribution rights for Cream's recordings had reverted by that time. A re-release was pressed in 2014 by Polydor on 180g vinyl.
"Hear My Train A Comin'" is a blues-based song written by Jimi Hendrix. Lyrically, it was inspired by earlier American spirituals and blues songs which use a train metaphor to represent salvation. Hendrix recorded the song in live, studio, and impromptu settings several times between 1967 and 1970, but never completed it to his satisfaction.
The Fool is a 1964 Gibson SG guitar, painted for Eric Clapton by the Dutch design collective The Fool, from which the guitar takes its name. One of the world's best-known guitars, it epitomizes the psychedelic era. Clapton used the guitar extensively while playing with Cream and it was an essential element of his famed "woman tone". From the 1970s to early 1980s, the guitar was owned by Todd Rundgren, who was often seen playing the instrument in his live performances. He nicknamed the guitar "Sunny", after the Cream song "Sunshine of Your Love".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
