This week, Jim Adams of A Unique Title for Me fame, has asked us to choose a song from the Rolling Stone magazine list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time either 2003, 2012, 2020, or 2023. I chose Ain’t No Sunshine, by Bill Withers, which is off his Just As I Am album.
The Story
Ain’t No Sunshine was released as a single in 1971, becoming a breakthrough hit for Withers, reaching number six on the U.S. R&B Chart and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 23 song for 1971.
The song reached the Top 40 again in 2009, when it was sung by Kris Allen in the eighth season of American Idol.
In 2024, the single was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant”.[3]
Withers was inspired to write the song after watching the 1962 movie Days of Wine and Roses. He explained, in reference to the characters played by Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon, “They were both alcoholics who were alternately weak and strong. It’s like going back for seconds on rat poison. Sometimes you miss things that weren’t particularly good for you. It’s just something that crossed my mind from watching that movie, and probably something else that happened in my life that I’m not aware of.”[4]
For the song’s bridge, Withers had intended to write more lyrics instead of repeating the phrase “I know” 26 times but then followed the advice of the other musicians to leave it that way: “I was this factory worker puttering around,” Withers said. “So when they said to leave it like that, I left it.”[4]
Withers, then 31, was working at a factory making bathrooms for 747s at the time he wrote the song. When the song went gold, the record company presented Withers with a golden toilet seat, marking the start of his new career.[5] “Ain’t No Sunshine” was the first of Withers’ three gold records in the U.S.
Originally released as the B-side to another song called “Harlem”, “Ain’t No Sunshine” was preferred by disc jockeys, and it became a huge hit, Withers’ first.[6] “Harlem” was subsequently covered by The 5th Dimension, who featured it on their Soul and Inspiration album and released it as a single.
Withers performed “Ain’t No Sunshine” on The Old Grey Whistle Test.[7] It won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1972[6] and is ranked 285th on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[8]
The Lyrics
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
It's not warm when she's away
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And she's always gone too long
Anytime she's goes away
Wonder this time where she's gone
Wonder if she's gone to stay
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime she goes away
And I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
I know, I know
Hey, I ought to leave young thing alone
But ain't no sunshine when she's gone, whoa, whoa
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
Only darkness every day
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Anytime she goes away
Songwriters: Bill Withers. For non-commercial use only.
Ergo, the Ogre 