Song of the Day: Bobby Hebb, “Sunny”

Song of the Day 1 Minute

On November 23, 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Bobby Hebb’s brother, Harold, was killed in a knife fight. Deeply overwhelmed with grief at both deaths, Bobby found solace in his songwriting. According to Wikipedia, Bobby said this about the song:

“All my intentions were just to think of happier times – basically looking for a brighter day – because times were at a low tide. 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“.

The song was released in 1966 and rose to #3 on the R&B chart, #2 on the Hot 100, and #12 in the UK. Bobby went on tour with The Beatles in 1966 and at the time "Sunny" was higher on the charts than any concurrent song by the Fab Four. BMI ranked it #25 on their list of "Top 100 Songs of the Century."

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

18 thoughts on “Song of the Day: Bobby Hebb, “Sunny””

  1. “Sunny” was all over the Knoxville radio in the summer of 1966 when my family first moved to East Tennessee. A lot of good memories come with that song for me and many can say the same I know.

    Arlee Bird
    Tossing It Out

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  4. Many moons ago this was number one for a long time if I remember correctly, but it was everyone’s number one. Nice tune.

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    1. That’s what I like about YouTube: It suggests other songs you might want to hear. That’s how the Song of the Day works: I look and see what else YouTube suggests and pick one of those.

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