"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]
Musical influences
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]
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. 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]
Morecambe & Wise tributes
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]
BBC promotional clip
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 FC
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".
Willie Nelson version
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.
2012
The Jive Aces on their album King of the Swingers: A Salute to Louis Prima[26]
2014
Violetta Zironi for the TV commercial of the popular Italian brand of cookies Pavesini.[27]
2017
Michael Ball &
Alfie Boe with the Rays of Sunshine Children's Choir & Friends to raise money for the Rays of Sunshine Children's Charity[citation needed]
Singer
Ashleigh Wood recorded a version for her album My Journey in homage to the town of Morecambe.
References
^
abDerek B. Scott, Sounds of the metropolis: the nineteenth-century popular music revolution in London, New York, Paris, and Vienna, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2008,
ISBN0-19-530946-4,
ISBN978-0-19-530946-1, 304 pages (
page 7)
^Gary Morecambe, You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone: The Life and Work of Eric Morecambe, Publisher HarperCollins UK, 2009,
ISBN0-00-734367-1,
ISBN978-0-00-734367-6, 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,
ISBN0-00-734367-1,
ISBN978-0-00-734367-6, 256 pages (
page)