Sunshine of Your Love
Encyclopedia
"Sunshine of Your Love" is a 1967 song by the British supergroup
Cream
. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears
in November 1967, and was later released as a single
in January 1968. It is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive electric
/bass guitar
riff and an acclaimed guitar solo from Eric Clapton
. The song was written by Jack Bruce
, Pete Brown
and Clapton.
show at the Saville Theatre
in London. After the concert, Bruce returned home and wrote the riff
that runs throughout the song. Most of the lyrics to "Sunshine of Your Love" were written during an all-night creative session between Bruce and Brown, a poet who worked with the band: "I picked up my double bass
and played the riff. Pete looked out the window and the sun was coming up. He wrote 'It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes…'" Clapton later wrote the song's bridge
which also yielded the song's title.
Clapton's guitar tone on the song is created using his 1964 Gibson SG
guitar and a Marshall
amplifier. It is also believed that a Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah is placed fully in the bass position for the solo section. The song is renowned among guitarists as perhaps the best example of his legendary late-'60s "woman tone", a thick yet articulate sound that many have tried to emulate. For the solo Clapton played the opening lines from the pop standard "Blue Moon
," creating a contrast between the sun and the moon.
Drummer Ginger Baker
is said to have came up with the song's tempo
, which was based on African drumming. Engineer Tom Dowd later claimed to have suggested the drum part, but Baker insists that he was indeed the one who came up with the drum pattern and didn't receive writing credit: "not even a thank you!"
Cream's American record label, Atlantic
, did not like the song originally and was not going to release it, but the people at Atlantic changed their mind when Booker T. Jones
(of Booker T. & the M.G.'s
, whose Stax
label was at the time distributed by Atlantic) said he liked the song.
, Goodfellas
, Uncommon Valor
, and True Lies
. The opening riff also appeared at the end of the Futurama
episode "The 30% Iron Chef" after Bender offers to make the crew a brunch laced with LSD
. The riff also appears in The Simpsons
episode "Mother Simpson
", played when Mona Simpson sees Joe Namath
's long hair. In the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club
, the opening riff is air-guitared by character John Bender. It is a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
. It is performed in the Freaks and Geeks
episode I'm With the Band. It is also in the Johnny Knoxville
movie The Ringer.
magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
. In March 2005, Q magazine
placed "Sunshine of Your Love" at #19 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2009 it was named the 44th best hard rock song of all time by VH1
. The song is also a part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll list.
in Manchester
on 1 June 1975 and released it on his album Live '75. Another live version was released on Cities of the Heart and was performed during Jack's 50th birthday concerts in 1993.
Jack Bruce also recorded the song with Peter Frampton
on guitar on the Ringo Starr All-Starr Band tour 1997-1998.
On the Jack Bruce album Shadows in the Air the song was covered with Eric Clapton on guitar.
performed "Sunshine of Your Love" as a setlist staple throughout his 1968 and 1969 concerts, employing wailing guitar riffs in place of the lyrics and ending the song by dramatically slowing the tempo to a grinding halt, as well as including leitmotifs from other Cream songs such as "Outside Woman Blues". Recordings of the song can be found on Experience Vol. 1, The Last Experience Concert: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the 2010 release Valleys of Neptune
and the 2011 release Winterland
in their entirety (slightly less than seven minutes) and in a truncated version on BBC Sessions. During a January 1969 appearance on the "Happening for Lulu
" television show, Hendrix halted his band near the end of the set and broke into "Sunshine of Your Love", running the show past its scheduled end time. This moment inspired Elvis Costello
's rendition of "Radio Radio
" on Saturday Night Live
in 1977.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
also used the riff in their song "Blues Part II," and a cappella
singer Bobby McFerrin
recorded a voice instrumental version of the song on the album Simple Pleasures (1988), in which he replicates Clapton's guitar solo using only his vocals and some effects processing. Ella Fitzgerald
also recorded a version in 1968. The trippiness of her rendition might be compared with that of The 5th Dimension's, which appeared on the vocal group's The Age of Aquarius
LP. A version (with some sexually-charged lyric changes) performed by Frank Zappa
(and band) appears on his The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
album, along with a cover of Hendrix' frequent staple "Purple Haze
" and a number of other covers.
Japanese rock band Gastunk
released a cover as a single in 1988.
English sludge band Fudge Tunnel
recorded it on their album Hate Songs in E Minor in the 1990s.
Living Colour
recorded their take on the song in 1994 for the True Lies soundtrack
, which also appears on their Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of Living Colour
2006 compilation album.
"Sunshine of Your Love" was also given a skanking up-tempo cover by Bim Skala Bim
on the Tuba City (1989) album.
Hardcore band Earth Crisis
released a live version on their Best-Of album Forever True.
The song was also covered by Ozzy Osbourne
on his 2005 cover album Under Cover
.
Former Kyuss
drummer Brant Bjork
covered this song with his band Brant Bjork and the Bros on their double-album Saved by Magic
.
The riff appears at the end of the noise section of "Dead Bob" by Nomeansno
on the album Sex Mad
. It is also borrowed by Alexander 'Skip' Spence at the end of the song "War In Peace" from his 1969 cult album Oar
.
A hard rock cover of the song can be heard in the third season of Family Guy
the episode of "Mr. Saturday Knight
".
Funkadelic
recorded a cover of the song for their album By Way of the Drum
in 1984, but this album was shelved until its release in 2007.
Trini Lopez
included "Sunshine Of Your Love" on his Reprise Records
album The Whole Enchilada (Reprise 6337).
The song was covered as a hard rock version on the Goo Goo Dolls
's eponymous debut album.
"Sunshyne" on Thousand Foot Krutch
's first album, That's What People Do
is mostly based on the song.
American rock band Toto
covered it on their 2002 cover album Through the Looking Glass
.
Elvis Costello and The Police covered "Sunshine of Your Love" for Costello's show Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
.
Seth Rogen
, Jason Segel
, James Franco
and Shaun Weiss
perform the song various times in Freaks and Geeks
during the episode I'm With the Band.
Chilly
played a disco version of the song on the album Come to L.A. in 1978.
Australian guitarist and singer Orianthi
covered the song for Believe (II), the re-release of her album Believe
.
Carlos Santana
covered the song on his 2010 album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time
. The song features vocals by Rob Thomas
of Matchbox Twenty
(Thomas had previously appeared on Santana's "Smooth
" in 1999). It was at one point the second-most popular Santana song on iTunes despite it not being released as a single.
Mahavishnu Orchestra use the main riff in the Track "Dream" on the 1973 live album Between Nothingness and Eternity
.
Japanese guitarist and singer Tomoyasu Hotei
covered the song for the album GUITARHYTHM V in 2009.
The American soul, funk and jazz vocalist Spanky Wilson
recorded a version on her 1968 album Doin' It. It is still a favourite on the Northern Soul scene.
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
. The song was originally released on the album Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears
Disraeli Gears is the second album by British supergroup Cream. It was released in November 1967 and went on to reach #5 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also their American breakthrough, becoming a massive seller there in 1968, reaching #4 on the American charts...
in November 1967, and was later released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in January 1968. It is Cream's only gold-selling single in the United States. It features a distinctive electric
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
/bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
riff and an acclaimed guitar solo from Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
. The song was written by Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
, Pete Brown
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown is an English performance poet and lyricist.Best known for his collaborations with Jack Bruce, Brown also worked with The Battered Ornaments, formed his own group Pete Brown & Piblokto!, and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also writes film scores and formed a film...
and Clapton.
Development
Development of the song began when Bruce and Clapton attended The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceThe Jimi Hendrix Experience
The Jimi Hendrix Experience were an English-American psychedelic rock band that formed in London in October 1966. Comprising eponymous singer-songwriter and guitarist Jimi Hendrix, bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the band was active until June 1969, in which...
show at the Saville Theatre
Saville Theatre
The Saville Theatre is a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s, finally being converted to a cinema in 1970.-Theatre years:...
in London. After the concert, Bruce returned home and wrote the riff
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
that runs throughout the song. Most of the lyrics to "Sunshine of Your Love" were written during an all-night creative session between Bruce and Brown, a poet who worked with the band: "I picked up my double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and played the riff. Pete looked out the window and the sun was coming up. He wrote 'It's getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes…'" Clapton later wrote the song's bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
which also yielded the song's title.
Clapton's guitar tone on the song is created using his 1964 Gibson SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...
guitar and a Marshall
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...
amplifier. It is also believed that a Vox Clyde McCoy Picture Wah is placed fully in the bass position for the solo section. The song is renowned among guitarists as perhaps the best example of his legendary late-'60s "woman tone", a thick yet articulate sound that many have tried to emulate. For the solo Clapton played the opening lines from the pop standard "Blue Moon
Blue Moon (song)
"Blue Moon"'s first crossover recording to rock and roll came from Elvis Presley in 1956. His cover version of the song was included on his self-titled debut album Elvis Presley....
," creating a contrast between the sun and the moon.
Drummer Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
is said to have came up with the song's tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
, which was based on African drumming. Engineer Tom Dowd later claimed to have suggested the drum part, but Baker insists that he was indeed the one who came up with the drum pattern and didn't receive writing credit: "not even a thank you!"
Cream's American record label, Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, did not like the song originally and was not going to release it, but the people at Atlantic changed their mind when Booker T. Jones
Booker T. Jones
Booker T. Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. and the MGs. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, earning him a Grammy Award for lifetime...
(of Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones , Steve Cropper , Lewie Steinberg , and Al Jackson, Jr....
, whose Stax
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
label was at the time distributed by Atlantic) said he liked the song.
Charts
| Chart (1968) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... ) |
3 |
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
5 |
Appearances in popular culture
The song appears on the soundtracks of the movies School of RockSchool of Rock
School of Rock, also called The School of Rock, is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, written by Mike White, and starring Jack Black...
, Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
, Uncommon Valor
Uncommon Valor
Uncommon Valor is a 1983 action/war film written by Joe Gayton and directed by Ted Kotcheff, about a Marine officer who puts together a team to try to rescue his son, who he believes is among those still held in Laos after the Vietnam War...
, and True Lies
True Lies
True Lies is a 1994 American action-comedy film directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Charlton Heston, and Art Malik. Eliza Dushku also appears in the film in one of her first major film roles...
. The opening riff also appeared at the end of the Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
episode "The 30% Iron Chef" after Bender offers to make the crew a brunch laced with LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
. The riff also appears in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Mother Simpson
Mother Simpson
"Mother Simpson" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons seventh season and first aired on November 19, 1995. After faking his own death to get a day off of work, Homer reunites with his mother Mona, who he thought had died 27 years ago. It was directed by David Silverman and was the first episode to...
", played when Mona Simpson sees Joe Namath
Joe Namath
Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...
's long hair. In the 1985 movie The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club
The Breakfast Club is a 1985 American teen drama film written and directed by John Hughes. The storyline follows five teenagers as they spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all deeper than their respective stereotypes.-Plot:The plot follows five students at...
, the opening riff is air-guitared by character John Bender. It is a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game, the third main installment in the Guitar Hero series, and the fourth title overall...
. It is performed in the Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is an American teen comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season...
episode I'm With the Band. It is also in the Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...
movie The Ringer.
Legacy
In 2004, the song was ranked at #65 on Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
. In March 2005, Q magazine
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
placed "Sunshine of Your Love" at #19 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2009 it was named the 44th best hard rock song of all time by VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. The song is also a part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll list.
Solo versions
Jack Bruce performed the track live at the Free Trade HallFree Trade Hall
The Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester, was a public hall constructed in 1853–6 on St Peter's Fields, the site of the Peterloo Massacre and is now a hotel. The hall was built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The architect was Edward Walters The hall subsequently was...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
on 1 June 1975 and released it on his album Live '75. Another live version was released on Cities of the Heart and was performed during Jack's 50th birthday concerts in 1993.
Jack Bruce also recorded the song with Peter Frampton
Peter Frampton
Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...
on guitar on the Ringo Starr All-Starr Band tour 1997-1998.
On the Jack Bruce album Shadows in the Air the song was covered with Eric Clapton on guitar.
Cover versions
Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
performed "Sunshine of Your Love" as a setlist staple throughout his 1968 and 1969 concerts, employing wailing guitar riffs in place of the lyrics and ending the song by dramatically slowing the tempo to a grinding halt, as well as including leitmotifs from other Cream songs such as "Outside Woman Blues". Recordings of the song can be found on Experience Vol. 1, The Last Experience Concert: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the 2010 release Valleys of Neptune
Valleys of Neptune
-Recording details:All recording details are included in the Valleys of Neptune booklet, except for the Target tracks, which are listed on the inside of the Digipack behind the CD.Target bonus tracks-Album artwork:...
and the 2011 release Winterland
Winterland (album)
Winterland is a posthumous live box set by English/American psychedelic rock band The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released on September 12, 2011 by Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings, the four-disc collection documents the band's six performances at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco,...
in their entirety (slightly less than seven minutes) and in a truncated version on BBC Sessions. During a January 1969 appearance on the "Happening for Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
" television show, Hendrix halted his band near the end of the set and broke into "Sunshine of Your Love", running the show past its scheduled end time. This moment inspired Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
's rendition of "Radio Radio
Radio Radio
"Radio Radio" was a single by Elvis Costello and The Attractions released in the UK in October 1978. The song had already appeared on the US version of their second album, This Year's Model, released earlier that year...
" on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in 1977.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American music group, originally formed in 1967 in New York City. Since its beginnings in 1967, the band has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a multitude of musical styles...
also used the riff in their song "Blues Part II," and a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
singer Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin
Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
recorded a voice instrumental version of the song on the album Simple Pleasures (1988), in which he replicates Clapton's guitar solo using only his vocals and some effects processing. Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
also recorded a version in 1968. The trippiness of her rendition might be compared with that of The 5th Dimension's, which appeared on the vocal group's The Age of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius (album)
The Age of Aquarius is the fourth album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1969 .- Track listing :# "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In [The Flesh Failures]" – 4:51...
LP. A version (with some sexually-charged lyric changes) performed by Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
(and band) appears on his The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life
The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life is a double disc live album by Frank Zappa, released in 1991 . The album was one of three to be recorded during the 1988 world tour, along with Broadway the Hard Way and Make a Jazz Noise Here...
album, along with a cover of Hendrix' frequent staple "Purple Haze
Purple Haze
"Purple Haze" is a song written in 1966 and recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience and released as a single in both the United Kingdom and the United States. It appeared on their 1967 album Are You Experienced...
" and a number of other covers.
Japanese rock band Gastunk
Gastunk
Gastunk is an influential Japanese rock band, first active from 1983 to 1988. They reunited in 1999 and 2006 for reunion concerts, but officially restarted activities in 2010.- Members :...
released a cover as a single in 1988.
English sludge band Fudge Tunnel
Fudge Tunnel
Fudge Tunnel were a band formed in Nottingham, England by Alex Newport, David Ryley and Adrian Parkin. After two critically acclaimed singles on Pigboy Records , they signed to Nottingham's Earache Records...
recorded it on their album Hate Songs in E Minor in the 1990s.
Living Colour
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by free jazz, funk, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, and heavy metal...
recorded their take on the song in 1994 for the True Lies soundtrack
True Lies
True Lies is a 1994 American action-comedy film directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, Charlton Heston, and Art Malik. Eliza Dushku also appears in the film in one of her first major film roles...
, which also appears on their Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of Living Colour
Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of Living Colour
-Personnel:* Corey Glover - Vocals* Vernon Reid - Guitar* Doug Wimbish - Bass * Will Calhoun - Drums* Muzz Skillings - Bass -References:...
2006 compilation album.
"Sunshine of Your Love" was also given a skanking up-tempo cover by Bim Skala Bim
Bim Skala Bim
Bim Skala Bim, formed in Boston, Massachusetts, was a third wave ska band that started in 1983 and remained active until 2002. They were influenced by the bands in England's 2 Tone movement, as well as bands such as the Clash, UB40 and Bob Marley...
on the Tuba City (1989) album.
Hardcore band Earth Crisis
Earth Crisis
Earth Crisis is an American metalcore band from Syracuse, New York, active from 1989 until 2001, reuniting in 2007. Their most recent record, To the Death, was released in May 2009 through Century Media....
released a live version on their Best-Of album Forever True.
The song was also covered by Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
on his 2005 cover album Under Cover
Under Cover
-Personnel:*Ozzy Osbourne – vocals*Jerry Cantrell – guitars*Chris Wyse – bass*Mike Bordin – drumsGuest musicians*Ian Hunter – vocals on "All the Young Dudes"*Leslie West – guitar solo on "Mississippi Queen"...
.
Former Kyuss
Kyuss
Kyuss is a rock band, originally from Palm Desert, California. After forming in the late 1980s and releasing an EP under the name Sons of Kyuss in 1990, the band shortened its name to Kyuss. Over the next five years the band released four full-length albums, and one last split EP in 1997 with...
drummer Brant Bjork
Brant Bjork
Brant Bjork is an American musician from Palm Desert, California, who is a drummer, producer, guitarist and one of the more notable figures in the stoner rock and Palm Desert scenes.-Early career and Kyuss:...
covered this song with his band Brant Bjork and the Bros on their double-album Saved by Magic
Saved by Magic
Saved By Magic is the 2005 double LP release from stoner rock band Brant Bjork & the Bros. Released on Brant Bjork's own label, Duna Records.-CD:-Vinyl:-Notes:* Brant Bjork covers the Cream hit "Sunshine of Your Love"....
.
The riff appears at the end of the noise section of "Dead Bob" by Nomeansno
Nomeansno
NoMeansNo is a Canadian progressive punk rock music group originally from Victoria, British Columbia and now located in Vancouver.The band has never had, nor have they seemed to pursue, strong mainstream success, but they do have a devoted underground following in North America and Europe...
on the album Sex Mad
Sex Mad
Sex Mad is the second full-length album by the Canadian punk rock band NoMeansNo.The track "Dead Bob" contains a citation of Cream's hit "Sunshine of Your Love"-Track listing:Side one# "Sex Mad" – 4:15# "Dad" – 3:01# "Obsessed" – 3:36...
. It is also borrowed by Alexander 'Skip' Spence at the end of the song "War In Peace" from his 1969 cult album Oar
Oar (Skip Spence album)
Oar is a 1969 album by the late Skip Spence. It is Spence's only solo album, recorded over seven days in Nashville, on which Spence plays all of the instruments.- History :...
.
A hard rock cover of the song can be heard in the third season of Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
the episode of "Mr. Saturday Knight
Mr. Saturday Knight
"Mr. Saturday Knight" is the 9th episode from the third season of Family Guy. It guest-stars Will Ferrell as the Black Knight, R. Lee Ermey as the Renaissance Fair jousting instructor, Adam Carolla as Death and Jimmy Kimmel as Death's dog. This is Mr. Weed's last appearance due to his death...
".
Funkadelic
Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American band most prominent during the 1970s. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, began the funk music culture of that decade.-History:...
recorded a cover of the song for their album By Way of the Drum
By Way Of The Drum
By Way of the Drum is an album by the American funk band Funkadelic. It was recorded in 1989 for MCA Records but shelved until its release in 2007 on Hip-O Select...
in 1984, but this album was shelved until its release in 2007.
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez is an American singer, guitarist and actor.-Career:Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, on Ashland Street in the Little Mexico neighborhood. He began his entertainment career in Dallas playing at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by Jack Ruby...
included "Sunshine Of Your Love" on his Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
album The Whole Enchilada (Reprise 6337).
The song was covered as a hard rock version on the Goo Goo Dolls
Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls are a Grammy-nominated American rock band formed in 1986 in Buffalo, New York, by vocalist and guitarist John Rzeznik and vocalist and bass guitarist Robby Takac. Since the end of 1994, Mike Malinin has been the band's drummer, a position previously held by George Tutuska...
's eponymous debut album.
"Sunshyne" on Thousand Foot Krutch
Thousand Foot Krutch
Thousand Foot Krutch is a Canadian Christian rock band formed in 1995. They have released five major studio albums: Set It Off , Phenomenon , The Art of Breaking , The Flame In All of Us , and Welcome to the Masquerade . They also have one live album, Live at the Masquerade...
's first album, That's What People Do
That's What People Do
That's What People Do is an independently released album by the rock band Thousand Foot Krutch. Rhyme Animal is the first and only single from this album, released in Canada. The tracks titled "Rhyme Animal", "Small Town", "Lift It" and "Set It Off" were rerecorded in 2000 for the album Set It Off...
is mostly based on the song.
American rock band Toto
Toto (band)
Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group currently consists of Joseph Williams , David Paich , Steve Porcaro , Steve Lukather , Mike Porcaro , and Simon Phillips . Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard...
covered it on their 2002 cover album Through the Looking Glass
Through the Looking Glass (Toto album)
Through the Looking Glass is the 11th studio album by the American band Toto. It was released in 2002, three years after their last studio release, "Mindfields." The album consists of covers of songs that have inspired the band.-Reception:...
.
Elvis Costello and The Police covered "Sunshine of Your Love" for Costello's show Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...
Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... was a UK/Canadian television series, shown on Channel 4 in the UK, CTV in Canada and the Sundance Channel in the United States. The show features intimate interviews between the host, Elvis Costello, and various musical guests intertwined with performances by...
.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
, Jason Segel
Jason Segel
Jason Jordan Segel is an American television and film actor, screenwriter, composer, puppeteer and musician, known for his work with producer Judd Apatow on the short-lived television series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, the films Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, I Love You, Man,...
, James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
and Shaun Weiss
Shaun Weiss
Shaun Weiss is an American television and film actor. Weiss started his acting career as Elvis on Pee-wee's Playhouse. He is best known for his portrayal of Greg Goldberg in The Mighty Ducks films. Shaun also has a cult following for his role as Josh in the Disney film Heavyweights...
perform the song various times in Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks
Freaks and Geeks is an American teen comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and executive produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season...
during the episode I'm With the Band.
Chilly
Chilly (band)
Chilly was a popular German eurodisco/rock band at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Their most famous songs include hits like "Friday On My Mind",'Johnny Loves Jenny', 'Come to L.A.', 'Simply a Love Song', 'For Your Love' and 'Get Up And Move'.The Song "For Your Love" was...
played a disco version of the song on the album Come to L.A. in 1978.
Australian guitarist and singer Orianthi
Orianthi
Orianthi Panagaris , better known simply as Orianthi, is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist. She is perhaps best known for being Michael Jackson's lead guitarist for his ill-fated This Is It concert series. Her debut single "According to You" has peaked at No. 3 in Japan, No. 8...
covered the song for Believe (II), the re-release of her album Believe
Believe (Orianthi album)
Bonus tracks- Believe bonus tracks :The Believe tracks are listed under tracks 2, 3, 8, 12, 13 and 14 respectively.Tracks 13, 14 and 15 are included in the Japanese release of Believe .- UK tracklist :- Singles :...
.
Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
covered the song on his 2010 album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time
Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time
Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, referred to as simply Guitar Heaven, is the 21st studio album by Santana, released on September 21, 2010...
. The song features vocals by Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas (musician)
Robert Kelly "Rob" Thomas is an American rock recording artist and songwriter. He is the primary songwriter and lead singer of the band Matchbox Twenty. Thomas also records and performs as a solo artist...
of Matchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995...
(Thomas had previously appeared on Santana's "Smooth
Smooth (song)
"Smooth" is a collaboration between latin rock band Santana and Rob Thomas of the rock group Matchbox Twenty. The song was written by Thomas and Itaal Shur, sung by Thomas, and won three Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.-Concept...
" in 1999). It was at one point the second-most popular Santana song on iTunes despite it not being released as a single.
Mahavishnu Orchestra use the main riff in the Track "Dream" on the 1973 live album Between Nothingness and Eternity
Between Nothingness and Eternity
Between Nothingness and Eternity is the first live album of Mahavishnu Orchestra, and last with the original line-up, released in 1973. According to the Mahavishnu Orchestra Gigs listing by Walter Kolosky, it was recorded live at the Schaefer Music Festival, held in Central Park, New York on August...
.
Japanese guitarist and singer Tomoyasu Hotei
Tomoyasu Hotei
is a Japanese musician, guitarist and actor. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Hotei at number 70 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts.- Life and career :...
covered the song for the album GUITARHYTHM V in 2009.
The American soul, funk and jazz vocalist Spanky Wilson
Spanky Wilson
Spanky Wilson is an American soul, funk and jazz vocalist, born in Philadelphia. She lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA until 1967 and then moved to Los Angeles, California, USA...
recorded a version on her 1968 album Doin' It. It is still a favourite on the Northern Soul scene.