"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" is a 1964 hit song written and recorded by Gale Garnett which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending 5 September 1964.[1] The song also enjoyed success on easy listening and country music radio stations, spending seven weeks at number one on the Billboard Easy Listening chart[2] and number 42 on the country chart. The Cash Box Top 100 ranked "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" at number one for the week of 31 October 1964, and it also reached number one in Garnett's native New Zealand that November. Garnett's sole Top 40 hit, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" won the Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1965.
In the UK, "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" was covered by the Lancastrians in a version produced by Shel Talmy and featuring guitar work from both Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan.[3] It charted at number 44 in the UK in December 1964. Mark Wynter had a non-charting UK single release of "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" in 1966.
Alma Cogan recorded the song in German as "Ich Liebe Die Sonne" which was the B-side of her number 39 German hit "Hillbilly Boy" (1965).
"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" was a minor C&W hit in 1970 for Lawanda Lindsey, reaching number 63, serving as the title cut for an album as it did in 1978 for Helen Reddy. Reddy's version, produced by Kim Fowley, was issued as a single and reached #12 on the Easy Listening chart, but became the first lead single from a Reddy album to miss the Billboard Hot 100. Nonetheless, the song took on new life when Reddy sang the song on The Muppets Show while singing and dancing with Sopwith the Camel[4]
"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" has also been recorded as an album cut in 1964 by Dean Martin, in 1965 by the Fleetwoods and as a duet by Bobby Bare and Skeeter Davis, in 1967 by Sonny & Cher, in 1972 by Wayne Newton, in 1974 by Susan Maughan and in 1984 by Dolly Parton; also Trini Lopez included the song on his album All My Best.