{"id":6795,"date":"2023-06-05T12:45:30","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T16:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/?p=6795"},"modified":"2023-06-05T12:45:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T16:45:34","slug":"sunny-afternoon-a-recreation-of-the-kinks-60s-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/?p=6795","title":{"rendered":"Sunny Afternoon &#8211; A recreation of the Kinks 60s classic."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>An updated release of this old classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/all-songs\/mp3\/Cover_Story_2\/Sunny_Afternoon.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"926\" src=\"https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Lazing_Sunny_Afternoon-1-1024x926.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Lazing_Sunny_Afternoon-1-1024x926.png 1024w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Lazing_Sunny_Afternoon-1-900x814.png 900w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Lazing_Sunny_Afternoon-1-768x695.png 768w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Lazing_Sunny_Afternoon-1-640x579.png 640w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Lazing_Sunny_Afternoon-1.png 1046w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Sunny Afternoon<\/strong>&#8221; is a song by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Kinks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Kinks<\/a>, written by chief songwriter&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ray_Davies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ray Davies<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[5]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;The track later featured on the&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Face_to_Face_(The_Kinks_album)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Face to Face<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;album as well as being the title track for their&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon_(album)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1967 compilation album<\/a>. Like its contemporary &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Taxman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taxman<\/a>&#8221; by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Beatles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Beatles<\/a>, the song references the high levels of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Progressive_tax\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">progressive tax<\/a>&nbsp;taken by the British&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Labour_Party_(UK)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Labour<\/a>&nbsp;government of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Harold_Wilson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harold Wilson<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMacDonald2005200-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[6]<\/a><\/sup><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-FOOTNOTEEverett201048-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[7]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Its strong&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Music_hall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">music hall<\/a>&nbsp;flavour and lyrical focus was part of a stylistic departure for the band (begun with 1965&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_Well_Respected_Man\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Well Respected Man<\/a>&#8220;), which had risen to fame in 1964\u201365 with a series of hard-driving, power-chord rock hits.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-500_Number_One_Hits-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221; was written in Ray Davies&#8217; house when he was ill. He recalled:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I&#8217;d bought a white upright piano. I hadn&#8217;t written for a time. I&#8217;d been ill. I was living in a very 1960s-decorated house. It had orange walls and green furniture. My one-year-old daughter was crawling on the floor and I wrote the opening riff. I remember it vividly. I was wearing a polo-neck sweater.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-songfacts-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Davies used the song&#8217;s narrator to reflect on his own situation in the song&#8217;s lyrics: &#8220;The only way I could interpret how I felt was through a dusty, fallen aristocrat who had come from old money as opposed to the wealth I had created for myself.&#8221; In order to prevent the listener from sympathizing with the song&#8217;s protagonist, Davies said, &#8220;I turned him into a scoundrel who fought with his girlfriend after a night of drunkenness and cruelty.&#8221;<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-songfacts-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Davies explained of the circumstances in which the song was written and recorded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221; was made very quickly, in the morning, it was one of our most atmospheric sessions. I still like to keep tapes of the few minutes before the final take, things that happen before the session. Maybe it&#8217;s superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently\u2014if I had walked around the studio or gone out\u2014it wouldn&#8217;t have turned out that way. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pete_Quaife\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bass player<\/a>&nbsp;went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar: and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicky_Hopkins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nicky Hopkins<\/a>, who was playing piano on that session, was playing &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Liza_(All_the_Clouds%27ll_Roll_Away)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Liza<\/a>&#8220;\u2014we always used to play that song\u2014little things like that helped us get into the feeling of the song. At the time I wrote &#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221; I couldn&#8217;t listen to anything. I was only playing the greatest hits of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Frank_Sinatra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Frank Sinatra<\/a>&nbsp;and Dylan&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maggie%27s_Farm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maggie&#8217;s Farm<\/a>&#8220;\u2014I just liked its whole presence, I was playing the&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bringing_It_All_Back_Home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bringing It All Back Home<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;LP along with my Frank Sinatra and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Glenn_Miller\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Glenn Miller<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Johann_Sebastian_Bach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bach<\/a>\u2014it was a strange time. I thought they all helped one another, they went into the chromatic part that&#8217;s in the back of the song. I once made a drawing of my voice on &#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221;. It was a leaf with a very thick outline\u2014a big blob in the background\u2014the leaf just cutting through it.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-songfacts-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[9]<\/a><\/sup><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-godsavethekinks-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[10]<\/a><\/sup><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-All_Day_and_All_of_the_Night-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[11]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Release and reception<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Released as a single on 3 June 1966, &#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221; went to number one on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/UK_Singles_Chart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UK Singles Chart<\/a>&nbsp;on 7 July 1966, remaining there for two weeks.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-ukcharts-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[12]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;The track also went to number one in Ireland on 14 July 1966. In America, it peaked at number 14 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_Hot_100\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Billboard<\/em>&nbsp;Hot 100<\/a>&nbsp;pop singles chart early autumn 1966.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[13]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;The promotional video for the single featured the band performing in a cold, snowy environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a 1995 interview, Ray Davies recalled being surprised at the song&#8217;s broad appeal, stating,&nbsp;&#8220;&#8216;Sunny Afternoon&#8217;, I remember the record coming out and I walked into a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Royal_British_Legion#Clubs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">British Legion<\/a>&nbsp;or a pub. I thought I was in a British Legion. All these people, old soldiers and things, singing it. I was 23 years old. I said, &#8216;Wow, all these old people really like it.&#8217; And this old guy came up and said, &#8216;You young guys&#8230; this is the sort of music we can relate to!&#8217; I thought, Wow, this is it, it&#8217;s the end (laughs).&#8221;<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[14]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_(magazine)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Billboard<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;praised the single&#8217;s &#8220;off-beat music hall melody and up-to-date lyrics.&#8221;<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-bb-15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[15]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cash_Box\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cash Box<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;said that it is a &#8220;slow-moving, blues-drenched, seasonal affair with a catchy, low-key repeating riff.&#8221;<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-cb-16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[16]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;&#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221; was placed at No. 200 on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pitchfork_Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pitchfork Media<\/a>&#8216;s list of The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[17]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;The song was featured in and was the title song of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/West_End_theatre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">West End<\/a>&nbsp;musical&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon_(musical)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sunny Afternoon<\/a>.<\/em>&nbsp;It has been covered by artists including&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jimmy_Buffett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jimmy Buffett<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stereophonics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stereophonics<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michael_McDonald_(musician)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael McDonald<\/a>, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michael_Caruso_(musician)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Caruso<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Personnel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to band researcher Doug Hinman,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHinman200483%E2%80%9384-46\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[46]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;except where noted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Kinks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ray_Davies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ray Davies<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 lead and backing vocals,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Twelve-string_guitar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">twelve-string<\/a>&nbsp;acoustic rhythm guitar<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sunny_Afternoon#cite_note-47\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[47]<\/a><\/sup><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dave_Davies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Davies<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 backing vocal, electric guitar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pete_Quaife\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pete Quaife<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 bass<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mick_Avory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mick Avory<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 drums<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Additional musicians<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rasa Davies&nbsp;\u2013 backing vocal<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicky_Hopkins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nicky Hopkins<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 piano,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Melodica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">melodica<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<script>\nvar zbPregResult = '0';\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An updated release of this old classic. &#8220;Sunny Afternoon&#8221; is a song by&nbsp;the Kinks, written by chief songwriter&nbsp;Ray Davies.[5]&nbsp;The track later featured on the&nbsp;Face to Face&nbsp;album as well as being the title track for their&nbsp;1967 compilation album. Like its contemporary &#8220;Taxman&#8221; by&nbsp;the Beatles, the song references the high levels of&nbsp;progressive tax&nbsp;taken by the British&nbsp;Labour&nbsp;government of&nbsp;Harold [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6798,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions\/6798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}