Sun Songs - part two

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Sun Songs - part two
by Robert Benson - August 31, 2009

Soundgarden

In part two of this series, let’s explore some songs with the word sun in the title.

"The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song that was recorded by the British group the Animals and is considered by many to be the first folk-rock hit. It's also referred to as "House of the Rising Sun" or occasionally "Rising Sun Blues," and tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans. Depending on the version, the song may be sung from the perspective of a man or a woman. In the traditional folk version, the main character is a prostitute. However, the Animals changed it to a gambler to make their version more radio-friendly.

Like many classic folk ballads, the authorship of "The House of the Rising Sun" is uncertain. Some musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads such as the Unfortunate Rake of the 18th century which were taken to America by early settlers. Depending on whom you ask, the melody is also a traditional English ballad, however the song became popular as an African-American folk song. The oldest known existing recording is by versatile Appalachian artists Clarence "Tom" Ashley (who said he learned it from his grandfather) and Gwen Foster and was made in 1933. It has been recorded by a number of other artists including Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone, among others. The only rendition other than The Animals' to become a hit came when the Detroit-based Frijid Pink released their psychedelic version of the song in 1970 (#7 - stayed on the Billboard chart for 13 weeks).

"House of the Rising Sun," by the Animals was a true trans-Atlantic hit, topping both the US pop singles chart (in September 1964, when it became the first British Invasion #1 unconnected with The Beatles) and the UK pop singles chart (two months earlier) and was the group's breakthrough hit in both countries; becoming the Animals’ signature song. The song was also a hit in a number of other countries. It ranks #122 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list and is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The RIAA has placed it as #240 on their Songs of the Century list. In 1999, it received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

The Animals recorded this in one take on May 18, 1964, as they had perfected the song from years of performing it on the road. The Animals' drummer John Steel recalls in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh:

"We played Liverpool on May 17, 1964 and then drove to London where Mickie (Most) had booked a studio for ITV's Ready Steady Go! Because of the reaction we were getting to 'Rising Sun,' we asked to record it and he said, 'Okay we'll do it at the same session.' We set up for balance, played a few bars for the engineer - it was mono with no overdubs - and we only did one take. We listened to it and Mickie said, 'That's it, it's a single.' The engineer said it was too long, but instead of chopping out a bit, Mickie had the courage to say, 'We're in a microgroove world now, we will release it.' A few weeks later it was #1 all over the world. When we knocked The Beatles off the top in America, they sent us a telegram which read, 'Congratulations from The Beatles (a group)'"

As producer Mickie Most recalls:

"Everything was in the right place, the planets were in the right place, the stars were in the right place and the wind was blowing in the right direction. It only took 15 minutes to make so I can't take much credit for the production. It was just a case of capturing the atmosphere in the studio."

Controversially, the arranging credit of the cut went only to Alan Price. According to Eric Burdon, this was simply because there was insufficient room to name all five band members on the record label, and Alan Price's name was first alphabetically (the A). However, this meant that only Price has received songwriter's royalties for the hit, a fact that has caused bitterness ever since. The song is still played on classic rock stations throughout the world, regardless of who wrote it.

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me" was the first single from Elton John's 1974 album Caribou. The song peaked at #16 in the UK and in the US reached the Top 10, ultimately peaking at #2 in June of 1974. By September of that year the song became Elton's fourth gold single.

Interestingly, Toni Tennille and Daryl Dragon, who would later have several hits and their own TV show as The Captain & Tennille, performed on this. The idea was to have a huge chorus made up of semi-famous singers in the background. Dusty Springfield, as well as members of America, Three Dog Night, Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys all recorded vocals for the song, but all the voices sounded terrible when mixed together so they just used Wilson, Johnston, and Tennille.

This turned out to be an extremely difficult and frustrating recording as Elton John was not satisfied with any of his vocal takes. Producer Gus Dudgeon had fits trying to mix all the voices and instruments that went into this. In Philip Norman's book Sir Elton: The Definitive Biography, Dudgeon said:

"When Elton recorded this track, he was in a filthy mood. On some takes, he'd scream it, on others he'd mumble it, or he'd just stand there, staring at the control room. Eventually, he flung off his headphones and said, "Okay, let's hear what we got." When Gus played it for him, Elton said, "That's a load of ******* crap. You can send it to Engelbert Humperdinck, and if he doesn't like it, you can give it to Lulu as a demo."

However, as successful as the song was in 1974, it was a live concert duet (Wembley Arena, London on March 25, 1991) with George Michael that catapulted the cut to #1 on the Billboard charts in 1991, staying on the charts for an amazing twenty weeks. The cut also went to #1 on the UK singles chart for two weeks in December 1991. Interestingly, John's duet with Michael was the only #1 single in the rock era to be recorded outdoors.

"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" also proved to be a popular song for other artists to perform or record as well. Jay Chattaway arranged this song into a jazz version, which Maynard Ferguson recorded for a television show (although the cut was never recorded onto an album), Joe Cocker's version appears on The Best Of Joe Cocker, the Who's Roger Daltrey recorded a version for the soundtrack to The Lost Boys, Gloria Estefan recorded it in 1989, Obsession, and The Three Degrees also recorded the song. Additionally, Oleta Adams recorded this for the album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. Various orchestras have also recorded the song, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the cut has been sang by contestants on American Idol; with performances by Clay Aiken, David Archeleta, Justin Guarini and Bo Bice, just to name a few.

"The Warmth of the Sun" is a Beach Boys song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and was released on their 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2 and as the B-side of the "Dance, Dance, Dance" single. Brian Wilson produced the song and sang lead vocals on the song, which was written on the evening of President John Kennedy's assassination at the now-defunct Hotel El Dorado in Sacramento, California.

Mike Love provided more details in Uncut magazine in March of 2008:

"The melody that Brian came up with was very melancholy. I'd had an experience where this girl I liked decided she didn't want to reciprocate, so I wrote the lyrics from the perspective of, 'Yes, things have changed and love is no longer there, but the memory of it is like the warmth of the sun…' It was looking for a silver lining in that cumulus nimbus, accentuating the positive. I wanted our music to provide a sonic oasis, a place where literally you could go, like in 'in My Room,' and tell your troubles to-or at least lose yourself in the music."

In a touch of irony, the song was covered by the Wilsons' father on his one and only album, The Many Moods of Murry Wilson, which was released in 1967 under Capitol Records. It was also remade by Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes, a side project of Matt Thiessen (Thiessen is the lead singer of the Christian rock band Relient K). Vince Gill performed a cover version at An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson (2001) concert and in 2006, Matthew Sweet and Bangles lead singer Susanna Hoffs recorded the song for their collaboration, Under the Covers, Vol. 1.

When Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell wrote "Black Hole Sun," he had no idea that it would be a hit single, or even if his band mates would even like the song:

"I wrote the song thinking the band wouldn't like it—then it became the biggest hit of the summer."

"Black Hole Sun" was released in the summer of 1994 as the third single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown and is arguably their most recognizable cut. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (for seven weeks), #2 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and clocked in at #24 on the Billboard Top 40; staying on the chart for an amazing twenty-three weeks.

The cut was also a worldwide hit, reaching the Top Ten on the Canadian Singles Chart, the UK Top 20, the Top 30 in Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and was a Top Ten hit in Australia, France, and Ireland.

The psychedelic-Lennonesque melody met with critical acclaim and Greg Prato of Allmusic called the song "one of the few bright spots" of the summer of 1994 when "the world was still reeling from Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain's suicide the previous April.” And as with most songs, it meant different things to different people, some saying that it is about having their first sexual experience, others just lamenting the song was about depression, while others thought that it was about the end of the world. It could even be about Black Hole Sun which is the name of a sculpture found in Seattle in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. But Cornell has different interpretations:

Cornell stated, "It's just sort of a surreal dreamscape, a weird, play-with-the-title kind of song. Lyrically it's probably the closest to me just playing with words for words' sake, of anything I've written. I guess it worked for a lot of people who heard it, but I have no idea how you'd begin to take that one literally."

In another interview he elaborated further, stating, "It's funny because hits are usually sort of congruent, sort of an identifiable lyric idea, and that song pretty much had none. The chorus lyric is kind of beautiful and easy to remember. Other than that, I sure didn't have an understanding of it after I wrote it. I was just sucked in by the music and I was painting a picture with the lyrics. There was no real idea to get across."

At the 1995 Grammy Awards, "Black Hole Sun" received the award for Best Hard Rock Performance and received a nomination for Best Rock Song. To date, the single has sold over three million copies worldwide and helped establish Soundgarden as one of the seminal bands of the grunge movement.

Stay tuned to MusicStack.som for more features about song titles, including days of the week songs, color songs, songs about money and many more!

Robert Benson
Author Robert Benson writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates Collecting Vinyl Records, where you can pick up a copy of his FREE ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting." You can also have your vinyl records appraised at Vinyl Record Appraisals

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