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Sunny Afternoon

{{About|the song|the album|Sunny Afternoon (album)|the musical|Sunny Afternoon (musical)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}

{{Use British English|date=November 2015}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Sunny Afternoon

| cover = Sunny Afternoon West German picture sleeve.jpg

| caption = West German picture sleeve

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = the Kinks

| album = Face to Face

| B-side = I'm Not Like Everybody Else

| released = {{Start date|1966|06|03|df=y}}

| recorded = 13 May 1966{{sfn|Hinman|2004|p=83}}

| studio = Pye, London

| venue =

| genre = {{flatlist|

  • Pop{{harvnb|Goldsmith|2019|p=254}}; {{harvnb|Paytress|2022}}.
  • rock{{sfn|Gelbart|2003|pp=222–223}}
  • music hall{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/kinks-album-guide-songs-841095/im-in-disgrace-schoolboys-in-disgrace-1975-841154/|title=The Kinks Album Guide|website=Rolling Stone Magazine|date=20 June 2019}}{{cite book |chapter=The Kinks|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |year=2004 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |edition=4th |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |pages= 458–460}}{{cite book|first= Joel|last= McIver|editor-first= Robert |editor-last= Dimery |year= 2015 |title= 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die|chapter= The Kinks - "Sunny Afternoon|publisher= Universe|location= New York|page= 174}}

}}

| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=36}}

| label = *Pye (UK)

| writer = Ray Davies

| producer = Shel Talmy

| prev_title = Dedicated Follower of Fashion

| prev_year = 1966

| next_title = Dead End Street

| next_year = 1966

}}

"Sunny Afternoon" is a song by the Kinks, written by Ray Davies{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20061004_ray.shtml |title=6 Music - Kinks reunion exclusive |publisher=BBC |date=4 October 2006 |access-date=2014-04-06}} and released as a single in June 1966. The track was included on the Face to Face album released in late October, and served as the title track for a 1967 compilation album. Like its contemporary "Taxman" by the Beatles, the song references the high levels of progressive tax taken by the British Labour government of Harold Wilson,{{sfn|Everett|2009|p=48}} although it does so through the lens of an unsympathetic aristocrat bemoaning the loss of his vast unearned wealth. Its strong music hall flavour and lyrical focus was part of a stylistic departure for the band (begun with 1965's "A Well Respected Man"), which had risen to fame in 1964–65 with a series of hard-driving, power-chord rock hits.{{cite book|first=Jo|last=Rice|year=1982|title=The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits|edition=1st|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd|location=Enfield, Middlesex|page=102|isbn=0-85112-250-7}}

Background

"Sunny Afternoon" was written in Ray Davies' house when he was ill. He recalled:

{{quote|I'd bought a white upright piano. I hadn't written for a time. I'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.{{cite web|title=Sunny Afternoon|url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6447|website=Songfacts}}}}

Davies used the song's narrator to reflect on his own situation in the song's lyrics: "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." In order to prevent the listener from sympathizing with the song's protagonist, Davies said, "I turned him into a scoundrel who fought with his girlfriend after a night of drunkenness and cruelty."

Davies explained of the circumstances in which the song was written and recorded:

{{quote|"Sunny Afternoon" 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's superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently—if I had walked around the studio or gone out—it wouldn't have turned out that way. The bass player went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar: and Nicky Hopkins, who was playing piano on that session, was playing "Liza"—we always used to play that song—little things like that helped us get into the feeling of the song.

At the time I wrote "Sunny Afternoon" I couldn't listen to anything. I was only playing the greatest hits of Frank Sinatra and Dylan's "Maggie's Farm"—I just liked its whole presence, I was playing the Bringing It All Back Home LP along with my Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller and Bach—it was a strange time. I thought they all helped one another, they went into the chromatic part that's in the back of the song. I once made a drawing of my voice on "Sunny Afternoon". It was a leaf with a very thick outline—a big blob in the background—the leaf just cutting through it.{{cite book|last1=Jovanovic|first1=Rob|title=God Save The Kinks: A Biography}}{{cite book|last=Hinman|first=Doug|title=All Day and All of the Night}}}}

Release and reception

Released as a single on 3 June 1966, "Sunny Afternoon" went to number one on the UK Singles Chart on 7 July 1966, remaining there for two weeks.{{cite web |title=Bartley Gorman King of the Gypsies |work=Maxim |url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/kinks/ |access-date=18 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724025943/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/artist/_/kinks/ |archive-date=24 July 2010 |df=dmy-all }} The track also went to number one in Ireland on 14 July 1966. In America, it peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart early autumn 1966.{{cite magazine |year=1966 |title=Billboard Hot 100 |magazine=Billboard |volume=78 |issue=40 |page=18 |publisher=Nielsen Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQ8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18 |access-date=30 June 2011 }} The promotional video for the single featured the band performing in a cold, snowy environment.

In a 1995 interview, Ray Davies recalled being surprised at the song's broad appeal, stating, {{"'}}Sunny Afternoon', I remember the record coming out and I walked into a British Legion 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, 'Wow, all these old people really like it.' And this old guy came up and said, 'You young guys{{nbsp}}... this is the sort of music we can relate to!' I thought, Wow, this is it, it's the end (laughs)."{{Cite journal |last=Cavanagh |first=David |date=September 1995 |title=The Village Green Mutual Appreciation Society |journal=Mojo}}

Billboard praised the single's "off-beat music hall melody and up-to-date lyrics."{{cite news|newspaper=Billboard|accessdate=2021-03-03|date=July 30, 1966|page=18|title=Spotlight Singles|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1966/BB-1966-07-30.pdf}} Cash Box said that it is a "slow-moving, blues-drenched, seasonal affair with a catchy, low-key repeating riff."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=July 23, 1966 |page=16 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1966/CB-1966-07-23.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}} "Sunny Afternoon" was placed at No. 200 on Pitchfork Media's list of The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s.{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6400-the-200-greatest-songs-of-the-1960s/ |title=Staff Lists: The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s |publisher=Pitchfork |date=2006-08-14 |access-date=2014-04-06 |archive-date=5 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305165532/http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6400-the-200-greatest-songs-of-the-1960s/ |url-status=dead }} The song was featured in and was the title song of West End musical Sunny Afternoon. It has been covered by artists including Jimmy Buffett, Stereophonics, Michael McDonald, and Michael Caruso.

Charts and certifications

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
align="left"|Chart (1966)

!align="left"|Peak
position

scope="row"|Australia (Go-Set){{Cite web|url=http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1966/19661012.html|title=Go-Set Australian charts - 12 October 1966|website=www.poparchives.com.au}}

|37

scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report){{Cite web|url=https://www.top100singles.net/2013/02/every-amr-top-100-single-in-1966.html|title=Every AMR Top 100 Single in 1966|website=www.top100singles.net}}

|13

{{singlechart|Austria|5|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
{{singlechart|Belgium (Flanders)|14|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
{{singlechart|Belgium (Wallonia)|11|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
{{singlechart|Canadatopsingles|1|chartid=5723|rowheader=true}}
scope="row"|Denmark (Danmarks Radio){{Cite journal|title=Denmark's Best Sellers|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1966/CB-1966-09-10.pdf|journal=Cashbox|issue=10 September 1966|page=50}}

|3

scope="row"|Finland (Suomen virallinen lista){{Cite web|last=Timo|date=13 August 2015|title=Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1960: Artistit KET - KIR|url=http://suomenlistalevyt.blogspot.com/2015/08/ket-kir.html|access-date=2020-07-21|website=Sisältää hitin}}

|7

scope="row"|France (IFOP){{cite web|url=http://www.infodisc.fr/Tubes_Artistes_K.php|title=InfoDisc : Les Tubes de chaque Artiste commençant par K|publisher=InfoDisc|language=fr|id=Select "Kinks" from the artist drop-down menu|access-date=25 June 2020}}

| 11

{{singlechart|Germany|7|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|songid=12234|rowheader=true}}
{{singlechart|Ireland2|1|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
scope="row"|Italy (Musica e dischi){{cite web|url=http://www.musicaedischi.it/classifiche_archivio.php|title=Classifiche|work=Musica e dischi|language=it}} Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Kinks".

|12

{{singlechart|Dutch40|1|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
{{singlechart|Dutch100|1|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
scope="row"|New Zealand (Listener){{cite web |url=http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qartistid=489#n_view_location |title=flavour of new zealand - search listener |website=Flavourofnz.co.nz |access-date=2016-09-29 |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127192247/http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qartistid=489#n_view_location |url-status=dead }}

|2

{{singlechart|Norway|1|artist=The Kinks|song=Sunny Afternoon|rowheader=true}}
scope="row"|South Africa (Springbok){{cite web|title=SA Charts 1965–March 1989|url=http://www.rock.co.za/files/springbok_top_20_(K).html|access-date=5 September 2018}}

|15

scope="row"|Spain (PROMUSICAE){{Cite web|url=http://listadesuperventas.blogspot.com/2010/02/1966.html|title=Listas de superventas: 1966|date=21 July 2020}}

|10

scope="row"|Sweden (Kvällstoppen){{Cite book|last=Hallberg|first=Eric|title=Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P 3: Sveriges radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor 10. 7. 1962 - 19. 8. 1975|publisher=Drift Musik|year=193|isbn=9163021404|location=|pages=}}

|2

scope="row"|Sweden (Tio i Topp){{Cite book |last1=Hallberg |first1=Eric |title=Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961 - 74 |last2=Henningsson |first2=Ulf |publisher=Premium Publishing |year=1998 |isbn=919727125X |location= |pages=205}}

|2

{{singlechart|UKsinglesbyname|1|artist=Kinks|rowheader=true}}
{{singlechart|Billboardhot100|14|artist=The Kinks|rowheader=true}}
scope="row"|US Cash Box Top 100{{cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19661001.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530053100/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19661001.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-05-30 |title=Cash Box Top 100 10/01/66 |website=Tropicalglen.com |date=1966-10-01 |access-date=2016-09-29 }}

|11

{{col-2}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
align="left"|Chart (1966)

! style="text-align:center;"|Rank

scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report){{Cite web|url=https://www.top100singles.net/2013/11/amr-top-singles-of-1966.html#show|title=AMR Top Singles of 1966

|website=www.top100singles.net}}

|80

scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop Flanders){{cite web|url=https://www.ultratop.be/nl/annual.asp?year=1966|title=Jaaroverzichten 1966|publisher=Ultratop|access-date=25 June 2020}}

|90

scope="row"|UK Singles (Official Charts Company){{Cite web|title=Top 100 1966 - UK Music Charts|url=http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1966.shtml|access-date=2020-06-25|website=www.uk-charts.top-source.info}}

|8

scope="row"|US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual){{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |date=1999 |title=Pop Annual |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |publisher=Record Research Inc. |isbn=0-89820-142-X}}

|154

=Certifications=

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Kinks|title=Sunny Afternoon|award=Gold|relyear=2005|certyear=2021|id=6373-1446-1|access-date=22 October 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{col-end}}

Personnel

According to band researcher Doug Hinman,{{sfn|Hinman|2004|pp=83–84}} except where noted:

The Kinks

  • Ray Davies{{snd}} lead and backing vocals, twelve-string acoustic rhythm guitar{{harvnb|Everett|2009|p=60}}: (twelve-string, acoustic rhythm); {{harvnb|Hinman|2004|p=84}}: (Ray Davies, acoustic guitar).
  • Dave Davies{{snd}} backing vocal, electric guitar
  • Pete Quaife{{snd}} bass guitar
  • Mick Avory{{snd}} drums

Additional musicians

References

{{Reflist|30em}}

=Sources=

{{Refbegin}}

  • {{cite book |last1=Everett |first1=Walter |author1-link=Walter Everett (musicologist) |title=The Foundations of Rock: From "Blue Suede Shoes" to "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" |date=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-531024-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PH88DwAAQBAJ}}
  • {{cite journal |last1=Gelbart |first1=Matthew |title=Persona and Voice in the Kinks' Songs of the Late 1960s |journal=Journal of the Royal Musical Association |date=2003 |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=200–241 |doi=10.1093/jrma/128.2.200 |jstor=3557496 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557496 |url-access=subscription |issn=0269-0403}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Goldsmith |first1=Melissa Ursula Dawn |title=Listen to Classic Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=978-1-4408-6579-4 |page=254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6W-DwAAQBAJ |language=en}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Hinman |first1=Doug |title=The Kinks: All Day and All of the Night: Day by Day Concerts, Recordings, and Broadcasts, 1961–1996 |date=2004 |publisher=Backbeat Books |location=San Francisco, California |isbn=978-0-87930-765-3}}
  • {{cite magazine |last=Paytress |first=Mark |title=Too Much on My Mind |magazine=Mojo |series=Mojo: The Collectors' Series: Mod Icons – Part Two: The Kinks |date=5 May 2022 |via=Apple News+}}

{{Refend}}

External links

  • [http://www.raydavies.info/ The Official Ray Davies Web Site]
  • [https://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/kinks/sunny+afternoon_20079012.html Lyrics]

{{The Kinks}}

{{The Kinks singles}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1966 songs

Category:1966 singles

Category:The Kinks songs

Category:Jan and Dean songs

Category:Pye Records singles

Category:UK singles chart number-one singles

Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles

Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles

Category:Number-one singles in Norway

Category:Jimmy Buffett songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Shel Talmy

Category:Songs written by Ray Davies

Category:Tom Jones (singer) songs

Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles

Category:Reprise Records singles

Category:Harold Wilson