"Ain't No Sunshine" is a song by Bill Withers from his 1971 album Just As I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones. The record featured musicians Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass and Al Jackson, Jr. on drums. The song was released as a single in September of 1971, becoming a breakthrough hit for Withers, reaching number six on the U.S. R&B chart and number three on the U.S. Pop chart.

Withers was still working at a factory that made toilet seats for Boeing 747s when he recorded the song. He originally intended to write more lyrics for the portion of the song where he repeats the phrase "I know" twenty-six times, but the other musicians told him to leave it the way it was. "I was this factory worker puttering around," Withers said. "So when they said to leave it like that, I left it."^[1]

Withers told Songfacts.com that he was inspired to write this song after watching the 1962 movie Days of Wine and Roses. He said that "I was watching..."Days Of Wine And Roses," with 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."^[2]

"Ain't No Sunshine" was originally released as the B-side to another song called "Harlem." Disc jockeys played "Ain't No Sunshine" as the single instead, and it became a huge hit.^[2]

"Ain't No Sunshine" is ranked 280th on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[3] The song won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1972.^[2]

Cover versions

The song has also been covered by many other artists, including:

There are also several songs that share the same title of "Ain't No Sunshine," and borrow lyrics from the hook, but they aren't true covers. Examples include versions by Akon, Cuban Link, Kid Frost and DMX. DMX's 2001 cover, using the title "No Sunshine," was included in the soundtrack for the film Exit Wounds^[4], but it is more of an "inspired by" version, rather than a true cover of the song, versus the various artist renditions listed above.

The song has also been translated into German by songwriter Lukas Hilbert; this version, entitled "Mein Tag, Mein Licht," has been performed by artists such as Jazzkantine and Yvonne Catterfeld. Another German version, "Allem Anschein nach bist Du's," was published in 2003 by Stefan Gwildis.

Use in pop culture

In addition to DMX's "No Sunshine," the song has also been in the soundtracks of films Notting Hill, Old School, Amy, Crooklyn, and Munich.

On television, the song is briefly heard in the animated series Drawn Together (episode "Dirty Pranking No. 2"), during the sound analysis in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Anonymous," and is also featured on episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and LAX (episode "Secret Santa"). It was sung karaoke-style on the USA Network show, Monk, by Captain Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) in the episode "Mr. Monk Goes to Vegas." The song was also briefly played at the end of an episode of "One on One," with Kyla Pratt.

"Ain't No Sunshine" was used as music for a rumba in So You Think You Can Dance during season 3. Kris Allen covered the song during the eighth season and also the finale of American Idol. At Last sung their version on the talent showcase America's Got Talent, and later released it as a single on the web.

In Europe, finalist Shaun Smith sang "Ain't No Sunshine" for his audition and in the final for Britain's Got Talent. On Italian XFactor, Noemi sang the song during the fifth episode.

"Ain't No Sunshine" was used in a major television public service announcement in Australia for skin cancer. UFC fighter and current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva uses the song as his entrance music for all his UFC fights.

In 2007 the track was sampled by Drum & Bass artists Bachelors of Science ^[5].

References