| "Bring Me Sunshine" | |
|---|---|
 "Bring Me Sunshine" BBC CD cover | |
| Song | |
| Written | 1966 |
| Composer(s) | Arthur Kent |
| Lyricist(s) | Sylvia Dee |
"Bring Me Sunshine" is a song written in 1966 by the composer Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee. [1] It was first recorded by The Mills Brothers in 1968, on their album My Shy Violet. [2] In the UK, the song is associated with the popular comedy duo Morecambe & Wise, after it was adopted as their signature tune in their second series for the BBC in 1969. [3]
Professor of Critical Musicology at the University of Leeds, Prof Derek B Scott, [4] argues that the song is influenced by the Viennese popular style. He writes:
"The melody implies a minor key, with harmonies on the tonic and subdominant. This would, of course, be bizarre and inappropriate for the words "Bring me sunshine in Your Smile / Bring me laughter all the while". But we find that the tonality is actually the relative major of the key implied by the tune, and the harmonies consist of the tonic (with a free-floating sixth) and dominant ninth. Suddenly the words and music make perfect sense, the tension of the dissonances conveying the sense of an appeal for sunshine, rather than the actual presence of sunshine." [1]
Although the second verse was often performed by an orchestra conducted by Peter Knight over the duo's closing credits, they only ever sang the first verse, the second one being purely instrumental, with Eric and Ernie performing a "skip dance" to exit the stage. The dance has been attributed to BBC producer, John Ammonds, [5] and Eric's son Gary recalls that the inspiration for the skip-dance came from a Groucho Marx film sequence. [6]
When Eric Morecambe died in 1984 so closely associated were the pair with the song that it was the title of the Bring Me Sunshine tribute show at the London Palladium held in his memory. Ten years later, the BBC ran another 3-part tribute, also titled Bring Me Sunshine.
Lyrics to the song were also read at Morecambe's funeral by Ernie Wise. [7] Wise went on to declare it his favourite song during his appearance on the BBC radio programme, Desert Island Discs in Oct 1990. [8] On the same programme three months later, the song was also a choice of jazz singer Adelaide Hall, [9] and has since been the choice of several other guests including Dawn French [10] and Rankin. [11] It has also been used for the title of several books about the pair.
When Morecambe & Wise defected from the BBC to Thames Television in 1978, directly after their record-breaking Christmas Special the previous year, the signature tune was dropped. It was however used in later instalments of these shows.[ citation needed ]
In 2011, the BBC used the song in a promotional clip for the 75th anniversary of its main channel, beginning with the familiar opening shot of Morecambe & Wise before leading into a montage of other famous moments from the channel's history, most of which were edited so as to lip-sync with the song. [12]
Morecambe Football Club often plays the song both prior to and after their games, whilst the club's fans have adopted the song as the "official anthem".
The 30 November 1968 edition of Billboard magazine predicted that Willie Nelson's version of "Bring Me Sunshine" (produced by Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis), would reach the Top 20 in the Country Single Charts, [13] eventually reaching #13 in 1969. It was included in 1974 on the budget compilation album, Spotlight on Willie Nelson . A different mix appears on Nelson's 2009 album Naked Willie ; this version is featured in the closing credits of the 2010 film The Crazies . In 2013, Willie Nelson's version was used as the theme to ITV sitcom The Job Lot .
The song has also been recorded by:
John Eric Bartholomew,, known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. Morecambe took his stage name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe in Lancashire.
Ernest Wiseman,, known by his stage name Ernie Wise, was an English comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, who became a national institution on British television, especially for their Christmas specials.
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, known as Morecambe and Wise, were an English comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1976.
"You Don't Know Me" is a song written by Eddy Arnold and Cindy Walker in 1955. "You Don't Know Me" was first recorded by Arnold that year and released as a single on April 21, 1956, on RCA Victor. The best-selling version of the song is by Ray Charles, who took it to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1962, after releasing the song on his number 1 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. The first version of the song to make the Billboard charts was by Jerry Vale in 1956, peaking at number 14 on the pop chart. Arnold's version charted two months later, released as an RCA Victor single, 47–6502, backed with "The Rockin' Mockin' Bird", which reached number 10 on the Billboard country chart. Cash Box magazine, which combined all best-selling versions at one position, included a version by Carmen McRae that never appeared in the Billboard Top 100 Sides listing.
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song has been covered by a wide range of musicians.
"Crazy Arms" is an American country song which was a career-making hit for Ray Price. The song, released in May 1956, went on to become a number 1 country hit that year, establishing Price's sound, and redefining honky-tonk music. It was Price's first No. 1 hit.
The Morecambe & Wise Show is a comedy sketch show originally broadcast by BBC television and the third TV series by English comedy double-act Morecambe and Wise. It began airing in 1968 on BBC2, specifically because it was then the only channel broadcasting in colour, following the duo's move to the BBC from ATV, where they had made Two of a Kind since 1961.
Bring Me Sunshine was a gala concert held at the London Palladium on 28 November 1984 in the presence of the Duke of Edinburgh in aid of the British Heart Foundation and was held in memory of the comedian Eric Morecambe who had died the previous May after many years of heart problems. It was hosted by Eric's long-time partner Ernie Wise and featured a host of personalities all paying their tribute to Morecambe. The show began with a dance routine, the theme for the whole evening's music being "sunshine" the dancers were accompanied by You Are The Sunshine Of My Life which was followed by the big entrance of Ernie Wise who first spoke, and then sang the duo's signature tune. This was an emotive moment for Wise and one that showed how big a part Morecambe had played in his life. Other stars that appeared over the course of the evening were:
Bring Me Sunshine was originally a three-part retrospective in tribute to Eric Morecambe and was hosted by the comedian and author Ben Elton, who is a big fan of Morecambe and Wise; the first episode was screened on 14 May 1994, which would have been his 68th birthday and featured interviews with many people who had guest starred in The Morecambe & Wise Show during its run from 1968 to 1977 and also had a host of memorable clips from the shows. Those interviewed included John Thaw, Roy Castle who died a few months afterwards, Diana Rigg as well as comments and tributes from modern day double acts Hale & Pace and Fry & Laurie.
Fools Rush In is a 1973 documentary that was made as part of the Omnibus series and followed the popular double act of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise whilst they were rehearsing one of the programmes for transmission on their BBC programme; it was to become the seventh episode of their seventh series and was broadcast on 16 February 1973 with guest stars Anita Harris and Anthony Sharp, both of whom appear in the documentary which is filmed in a fly-on-the-wall style. The programme is an insight into how the popular duo honed their material and how they run through bits of "business" with the guest stars, adding and subtracting material as they go. The sketches featured are also shown at the recording stage giving the viewer an insight as to how they developed from the page to the screen. Interviews are also included with the two stars and director John Ammonds who is also present at the script read-throughs.
Sweet Memories is an album by country artist Willie Nelson. It was released in 1979.
Good Times is the eighth studio album by country singer Willie Nelson, released in 1968. Arrangements were by Anita Kerr, Bill Walker and Ray Stevens.
Naked Willie is an album from American country music artist Willie Nelson. This album was released on March 17, 2009, on the Legacy Recordings label. The album include remixes of recordings from 1966–1970, stripped-down without orchestration or background vocals. The concept of the album is similar to the Beatles' Let It Be... Naked project released several years before Naked Willie. This album was released in some countries under the alternative title Stripped or Willie Stripped.
Heaven Help the Child is a 1973 studio album by country singer-songwriter Mickey Newbury. The album was Newbury's third consecutive release recorded at Cinderella Studios. Noted for its dramatic remakes of four previous Newbury songs: "Sweet Memories" and "Good Morning Dear" from Harlequin Melodies, "Sunshine" from Sings His Own, and "San Francisco Mabel Joy" from Looks Like Rain, the album is considered equal among Newbury's acclaimed Looks Like Rain and Frisco Mabel Joy. Apart from its definitive versions of three of Newbury's early songwriting hits, the album is also acclaimed for its title track, with its multi-generational narrative, the haunting "Cortelia Clark", and the bluegrass classic "Why You Been Gone So Long". In his AllMusic review of the LP, Thom Jurek declares, "Newbury, for the third time in as many recording sessions, came up with a record that defies categorization. And for the third time in a row, he had done the impossible, created a masterpiece, a work of perfection."
"Pretty Paper" is a song written by country music singer-songwriter Willie Nelson in 1963. After being signed to Monument Records, Nelson played the song for producer Fred Foster. Foster pitched the song to Roy Orbison, who turned it into a hit. Nelson later recorded his own version of the song in November 1964.
Arthur Kent was an American composer of popular songs, many of which he wrote in collaboration with lyricist Sylvia Dee.
The Morecambe & Wise Show is a comedy sketch show originally produced by Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network. The second show to be broadcast under the title, it was the fourth and final television series by English comedy double-act Morecambe and Wise, and saw their return to ITV after their successful nine-year association with the BBC.
