Bring Me Sunshine
"Bring Me Sunshine" is a song written in 1966 by the composer Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee,[1] and first performed by American artists in the late 1960s.[2] In Britain, the song is synonymous with the legendary comedy duo Morecambe & Wise, after it was adpoted as their signature tune in their second series for the BBC in 1969.[3]
Musical influences
Professor of Critical Musicology at Leeds University, 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 tone, 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]
Morecambe & Wise version
Skip-dance
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. Eric's son Gary recalls that the inspiration for the skip-dance came from a Groucho Marx film sequence. [5]
Morecambe & Wise Tribute song
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, Bring Me Sunshine, in 1994.
Lyrics to the song were also read at Eric's funeral by his comedy partner Ernie Wise.[6] It was also used for the title of several books about them. It is interesting to note that when Morecambe & Wise defected from the BBC to Thames Television in 1978, directly after their record-breaking Christmas Show the previous year, the signature tune was dropped. It was however used in later installments of their show.
It is also perhaps no surprise, that when Ernie Wise appeared on the BBC radio programme, Desert Island Discs in Oct 1990, that his castaway favourite song was Bring Me Sunshine.[7] Three months later, the song was also a choice of jazz singer Adelaide Hall.[8]
BBC comedy promotional clip
In 2011, the BBC used the song as a promotional comedy clip.[9]
Willie Nelson, and, Brenda Lee versions
The 30 Nov 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,[10] 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. The song was also covered by American singer Brenda Lee on her 1969 album, Johnny One Time (Decca).[11]
Other recordings
The song has also been recorded by:
- 1969 Brenda Lee, on her album, Johnny One Time.[12]
- 1969 Jack Greene, on his album, Statue of a Fool.[13]
- 1970 Chet Atkins, on his album, Yestergroovin'.[14] (YouTube video)
- 1971 Liz Damon's Orient Express, on their eponymous album.[15]
- 1974 Willie Nelson, on his album, Spotlight on Willie Nelson.[16] (YouTube video
- 1978 Mickey Gilley, on his album, Mickey at Gilleys.[17]
- 1999 Jon Nickell, on his album, Don't Say I Didn't Tell You![18]
- 1999 Norfolk Singers, on their album, 24 English Pub Songs.[19]
- 1999 Cliff Adams Singers, on their album, Sing Something Simple Collection: Sentimental Journey.[20]
- 2003 Mrs Mills (Glady Mills), on her album, The Very Best of Mrs. Mills.[21]
- 2006 Richard Shelton, on his album, Top Cat.[22]
- 2010 Foster & Allen, on their album of the same name, which peaked at number 14 in March 2011 in the New Zealand charts.[23]
- 2011 Oleg Frish with Patrick Williams & His Big Band, on the album, Bring Me Sunshine..[24]
See also
References
- ^ a b Derek B. Scott, Sounds of the metropolis: the nineteenth-century popular music revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 0195309464, 9780195309461, 304 pages (page 7)
- ^ "Bring Me Sunshine" at AllMusic.com
- ^ Gary Morecambe, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone: The Life and Work of Eric Morecambe, Publisher HarperCollins UK, 2009, ISBN 0007343671, 9780007343676, 256 pages (page)
- ^ "Prof Derek B Scott", Professor of Critical Musicology, Leeds University, home page.
- ^ Gary Morecambe, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone: The Life and Work of Eric Morecambe, Publisher HarperCollins UK, 2009, ISBN 0007343671, 9780007343676, 256 pages (page)
- ^ Ernie Wise , Robert Sellers, James Hogg, Little Ern!, Publisher Pan Macmillan, 2011, ISBN 0283071575, 9780283071577, 352 pages (page)
- ^ "Ernie Wise", Desert Island Discs, Sun 21 Oct 1990
- ^ "Adelaide Hall", Desert Island Discs, Sun 13 Jan 1991
- ^ "Bring Me Sunshine", BBC comedy clip, at the BBC website, retrieved 11 Dec 2011.
- ^ Billboard, 30 Nov 1968, (page 92)
- ^ "Johnny One Time" album details at Brenda Lee website, retrieved 11 Dec 2011
- ^ "Johnny One Time - Brenda Lee" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Jack Greene - Statue of a Fool" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Yestergroovin' - Chet Aktins" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Liz Damon's Orient Express" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Spotlight on Willie Nelson" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Mickey Gilley - Mickey at Gilleys" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Don't Say I Didn't Tell You! - Jon Nickell" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "24 English Pub Song - Norfolk Singers" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Sentimental Journey - Cliff Adams Singers]" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "The Very Best of Mrs. Mills" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Top Cat - Richard Shelton]" at AllMusic.com
- ^ "Bring Me Sunshine", Foster & Allen, at aChart.us
- ^ "Bring Me Sunshine - Patrick Williams & His Big Band" at AllMusic.com
External links
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- Behind The Sunshine (Gary Morecambe)
- The Morecambe & Wise Joke Book (Compilation)
- Morecambe & Wife (Joan Morecambe)
- Morecambe & Wise: The Biography (Graham McCann)
- Eric Morecambe Unseen (William Cook)
- Memories Of Eric (Gary Morecambe)
- Eric Morecambe: Funny Man (Gary Morecambe)
- Morecambe & Wise: A Celebration
- There's No Answer To That! (Jeremy Novak)
- Little Ern! (Robert Sellors)
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