Peak
94
Weeks
1
Score
39
Chart Year
1967
Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi wrote this song in March 1967 when Winwood was in the Spencer Davis Group and Capaldi was a member of Deep Feeling. The bands were on tour together, and after a show in Newcastle, the two convened in a hotel room and put the song together. "I got the title from a newspaper in a boarding house in Newcastle," Capaldi explained. "I was half-asleep, lying there writing this lyric in my head at about 3:30 in the morning. I woke up Steve with this idea and then we went into the living room where there was a little upright piano and finished the song." When Winwood and Capaldi formed Traffic a short time later with Dave Mason and Chris Wood, they recorded "Paper Sun" and released it as their first single. Released in May 1967, this trippy track was a good fit for the Summer of Love. Featuring Dave Mason's sitar, Chris Wood's flute and a rather inscrutable lyric, it became a psychedelia classic. Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" was released shortly before "Paper Sun" was issued as Traffic's first single. The Procol song stole much of Traffic's thunder, as the bombastic track proved to be a musical Godzilla, and one with a similar sounding vocalist, no less (Gary Brooker).
So you think you're having good times With the boy that you just met Kicking sand from beach to beach Your clothes are soaking wet But if you look around and see A shadow on the run (on the run) Don't be too upset because it's just a paper sun Ah paper sun, ah paper sun In the room where you've been sleeping All our clothes are thrown about Cigarettes burn window sills Your meter's all run out But there again it's nothing You just split when day is done (day is gone) Hitching lifts to nowhere, hung up on the paper sun Ah paper sun, ah paper sun Standing in the cool of my room Fresh cut flowers give me sweet perfume (too much sun will burn) Too much sun will burn (too much sun will burn) Too much sun will burn When you're feeling tired and lonely You see people going home You can't make the train fare Or the sixpence for the phone And icicles you're crying Down your cheek have just begun Don't be sad, good times are had Beneath the paper sun Ah paper sun, ah paper sun Daylight breaks while you sleep on the sand A seagull is stealing the ring from your hand The boy who had given you so much fun Has left you so cold in the paper sun In the paper sun, in the paper sun, in the paper sun, in the paper sun
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 2, 1967 | 94 | 32 |