"Sunny" is a soul jazz standard written by Bobby Hebb in 1963. It is one of the most performed and recorded popular songs, with hundreds of versions released and its chord progression influencing later songs. BMI rates "Sunny" No. 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".[2]
Background and composition
Bobby Hebb, 1966
Hebb's parents, William and Ovalla Hebb, were both blind musicians. Hebb and his older brother Harold performed as a song-and-dance duo in Nashville, beginning when Bobby was three and Harold was nine. Hebb performed on a TV show hosted by country music record producer Owen Bradley.
Hebb wrote the song after his older brother, Harold, was stabbed to death outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by the event and many critics say it inspired the lyrics and tune. According to Hebb, he merely wrote the song as an expression of a preference for a "sunny" disposition over a "lousy" disposition following the murder of his brother.[3]
Events influenced Hebb's songwriting, but his melody, crossing over into R&B (#3 on U.S. R&B chart) and Pop (#2 on U.S. Pop chart), together with the optimistic lyrics, came from the artist's desire to express that one should always "look at the bright side". Hebb has said about "Sunny":
All my intentions were to think of happier times and pay tribute to my brother – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low. After I wrote it, I thought "Sunny" just might be a different approach to what Johnny Bragg was talking about in "Just Walkin' in the Rain".
Chord progression's legacy
Its sixteen-barform starts with two repeats of a four-bar phrase starting on the song's E minortonic i chord followed by a V7–I to C major and a ii–V7 in the last bar to return back to the first i chord:
The fourth and final four-bar phrase is a ii–V7–i that settles on the song's tonic:
𝄀 F♯m7 𝄀 B7 𝄀 Em 𝄀 𝄎 𝄂
Elements of this "Sunny" chord progression are found in some later jazz and pop songs, notably:[4]
Red Clay (title track of Freddie Hubbard's 1970 album Red Clay) loops the "Sunny" progression's first four bars for soloing (but modifies the first V7–I into a full ii–V7–I and modifies the ii–V7 in the last bar into a iiø–V7)
She later released a live version on the albumミコR&Bを歌うin 1968 which goes through the first form with piano as a rubato ballad and then the full band enters in a more upbeat tempo.
The personnel on the Bobby Hebb recording included Joe Shepley, Burt Collins on trumpet, Micky Gravine on trombone, Artie Kaplan and Joe Grimaldi on sax, Artie Butler on piano, Joe Renzetti and Al Gorgoni on guitar, Paul (PB) Brown and Joe Macho on bass, Al Rogers on drums and George Devens on percussion. The song was recorded while the session was in overtime; many of the studio musicians booked for that date had to leave early for other recording sessions. Joe Renzetti was the arranger. Its form modulates up a half step every cycle after the second cycle and ends with a looped tag.
"Sunny" was recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City and released as a single in 1966. It met with immediate success, which resulted in Hebb touring in 1966 with the Beatles. The song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in late August 1966.[5]
American TV series Soul! in 1971 had a live duo video with Ron Carter on electric bass that starts with a rubato guitar introduction followed by four loops of the "James Bond" chord progression (which is also used for the final tonic of the chord progression) before starting the main vocal form. It ends with a long vamp which includes a bass solo.
Cher sung the song on her third solo LP Chér, an album of covers released in October 1966. It was released as the third single off the album for the European and Asian markets, achieving success mostly in Scandinavian countries. It is considered to be a tribute to her then husband, Sonny Bono.
"Sunny '76'" is a reharmonizeddisco take on Bobby Hebb's song. Like the original 1966 version, it features Hebb; however, an updated disco beat was implemented with an eye to having it played in discos around the world. This version was arranged by Joe Renzetti, who also arranged the original record.
The 7-inch single was released in late 1975. The B-side featured another song of Hebb's called "Proud Soul Heritage".
Euro disco group Boney M. recorded the song for their 1976 debut album, Take the Heat off Me, produced by Frank Farian and arranged by Stefan Klinkhammer in a Euro-disco arrangement. Following their breakthrough single "Daddy Cool", "Sunny" topped the German charts and reached the top ten in many other countries.[21][22][23]
The single's B-side was "New York City", a reworked version of Gilla's (another Farian artist) 1976 hit single "Tu es!" and its English version "Why Don't You Do It", which had an intro borrowed from the Boney M. album track "Help Help". This was issued in some territories instead of "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" on "Take the Heat off Me".
The track was remixed and reissued several times in 1988, 1999 (it was a minor hit single in early 2000) and 2015, and was sampled by Mark Ronson for his 2003 song "Ooh Wee" and by Boogie Pimps on their 2004 version. While Liz Mitchell sang the original lead vocals on Boney M.'s version, original member Maizie Williams recorded a solo version in 2006. The original version was also featured in the Umbrella Academy season 2 soundtrack.[24]
The final single from Boney M.'s remix album 20th Century Hits which peaked at #80 in the Swiss charts. The CD single was released with 8 mixes. A "London Mix" was released on the promotional double-12" single.
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