The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)

Label

Smash Records

Genre

Baroque pop

Media Type

45s

Duration

3:02

Composer(s)

Bob Crewe;Bob Gaudio

Entered Chart

Apr 16, 1966

Peak Date

May 21, 1966

Released

25 February 196

Recorded

9 January 1966, Philips Studios, Stanhope Place, London

Catalog #

Smash 2032

B-Side

After The Lights Go Out

Original Artist

Frankie Valli

This was written by the prolific songwriters Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio and produced by Crewe. The pair wrote many of the hits for The Four Seasons (Gaudio was a member of the group), and composed this one for lead singer Frankie Valli as a solo release. Valli's version was issued in 1965 and only managed a meager chart placement of #128, despite the phenomenal success of The Four Seasons. The next year, The Walker Brothers covered the song using an arrangement that clearly resembled Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" technique. This version was a huge hit, going to #1 in the UK and making #13 in America. This is a very despondent song about a hopeless feeling that comes with the loss of love. In our interview with Bob Gaudio, he explained: "I remember it was a rainy day and Bob Crewe and I were in his office, which was in the Atlantic Records building in the Lincoln Center area of New York, and it started to come together. It was a gloomy day and we were both a little depressed. And out it came." Cher covered this song, releasing it as a single in 1995 and including it on her 1996 album It's a Man's World. Her version reached #26 UK and was featured on "The Post-Modern Prometheus" episode of The X-Files in 1997, which concludes with the main characters attending a Cher concert. In the UK this is regarded as a death song, supposedly because of an incident in the mid 1960s concerning Ronnie Kray. The story goes that the legendary London gangster, armed with a 9mm Mauser, strolled into the Blind Beggar pub in London's East End to shoot and kill rival gangster George Cornell. This song was playing on the jukebox at the time and a stray bullet hit the machine, forcing the record to repeat the line "The sun ain't gonna shine, anymore, anymore, anymore…" as Cornell lay dying just a few feet away. Other artists who have covered this song include Neil Diamond, the Ides of March, Jay & the Americans, The Lettermen, Fuzzy Bunnies and the duo Nielsen/Pearson, whose version made #56 US in 1981. In 2004, the British group Keane covered the song and made it available for download from the website of The War Child Foundation, a charity which provides aid to children in areas affected by military conflict. (Thanks, Mike - Santa Barbara, CA) >> Bruce Springsteen recorded the song for his 2022 album, Only the Strong Survive. A record comprising recordings of classic R&B and soul songs, it was Springsteen's second covers album, following We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions in 2006.

Loneliness
Is a cloak you wear
A deep shade of blue
Is always there

The sun ain't gonna shine anymore
The moon ain't gonna rise in the sky
The tears are always clouding your eyes
When you're without love - Baby

Emptiness
Is a place you're in
With nothing to lose
But no more to win

(Repeat Chorus, except exclude 'baby')

Lonely, without you baby
Girl I need you
I can't go on

(Repeat Chorus, but add an extra
'The sun ain't gonna shine anymore'
after 3rd line)

The sun ain't gonna shine anymore
(Repeat till fade)