THE HIT HAMMER: John Denver's "Sunshine on My Shoulders"

(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)

John Denver - "Sunshine on My Shoulders"

Hit Number 1: March 30, 1974

Stay at Number 1: 1 Week

Similar to the backstory of Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle", John Denver's "Sunshine on My Shoulders" might owe a great amount of its success to a made-for-television movie. In 1973, the movie Sunshine aired on NBC starring Cliff DeYoung and Cristina Raines, in where a young mom is dying of cancer. The movie used "Sunshine on My Shoulders" as its theme song, and the song got some attention from viewers. In 1973, "Sunshine" was not a new song. It was already two years old by the time it was featured in the movie, and could be found on Denver's 1971 album Poems, Prayers & Promises. The name John Denver was also not a new thing to people at the time. Poems, Prayers & Promises spawned a massive hit in the immortal sing-along favorite "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which made it to #2 in 1971. (It's a 10) He also released another album a year later, Rocky Mountain High, with the title track creeping into the top ten for a bit in 1973. ("Rocky Mountain High" peaked at #9. It's another 10) However, "Sunshine" ended up being Denver's first #1 hit.

So, how does "Sunshine" end up being his first #1, and the other two songs don't make it there? Pop music charts don't necessarily mean that whatever is at #1 is the best thing out there, it's just the most popular. Sometimes, a #1 song can indicate what the music-buying is going through. For instance, "Time in a Bottle" made it to #1 because it was featured in a popular made-for-TV movie, as well as Jim Croce dying tragically in a plane crash just months before. "Sunshine" was also featured in a made-for-TV movie, but I think another reason why it became so popular was the time of year it saw its popularity rising. Denver said that he was inspired to write the song after being in Minnesota around what he called "late winter, early spring." He said it was gray and slushy outside, and still way too cold to go out and do anything. He just wanted to see sunshine again, and sometimes all people needed to be happy is some sunshine. And thus, "Sunshine" was born, and after it played in the movie Sunshine, it just so happened to be during winter. As spring was approaching, I think more and more people wanted to see more sunshine. After "Sunshine" was finally released as a single, it hit #1 in March 1974. I don't think the time of year that it hit #1 was a coincidence.

Obviously, "Sunshine" is not as awesome as "Country Roads" or "Rocky Mountain High". Both of those songs have an irresistible vibe to them that's fun and enjoyable. They're both difficult to not sing along with. "Sunshine", however, just gently trudges along. Denver sings the song with an unintimidating voice, like he's having a casual conversation with a friend. One thing Denver was great at was writing songs with good description. I can see myself driving down a West Virginia highway on "Country Roads", or I can picture myself camping in the mountains with friends on "Rocky Mountain High". Denver was as outdoorsy as they come, and it's easy to figure that out in his songs. But again, "Sunshine" lacks the description. The narrator loves sunshine. It makes him happy. He also wishes he had a tale to make us smile, but I'm not too sure what that part of the song means. Maybe it was just random words Denver wrote down that sounded good together, or maybe it has some kind of deeper meaning that I'm just not getting. Maybe one of you readers can tell me what you think that part means.

If you're going to dig deeper into John Denver's music, "Sunshine" isn't one of the first songs you should listen to. However, even though it's pretty lousy compared to some of his other material, "Sunshine" is the kind of song that's difficult to dislike. Again, the song is only about sunshine making you happy. Yeah, that's not much to write home about, but is that really all that bad? Who out there doesn't love some good sunshine? Who out there doesn't relate to the song on some level? I like it because it's just a soothing song. There is zero percussion on the song. In fact, in the album version there's only Denver's lead vocal and his guitar. The single version added in some good strings to accompany him, and both versions are good. "Sunshine" only exists as a comforting song. It's not going to win anyone over, but it doesn't have to. It's a perfectly fine piece of music.

Though there are some John Denver songs that are still better than "Sunshine", "Sunshine" started the peak of his popularity. We'll definitely hear from him again in this Hit Hammer journey.

GRADE: 7/10