No idea I'm afraid, but curious to know what Mary Well's doing 'Sunny' is like? (can't resist a female version of a song..  ) 

link

Rachel put this idea in my head.

What's your favourite version of Sunny?

...and has anyone any idea how many versions there are?

Mine favourite version was Les McCann, but has recently been overtaken by JAMES BROWN.

got to be marvin gaye for me ,tears it up big time

Mick

boney m ...................

only kidding ..marvin gaye by a mile , although georgie fame is quite good as well

Davie

Marvins version is good but surely the best version is by Bobby Hebb.

Here's what is registered on BMI....

SUNNY BMI Work #1430842

Songwriter/Composer Current Affiliation CAE/IPI #

HEBB BOBBY BMI 13671113

Artists

ANDERSON ERNESTINE

BOOKER T AND THE MG S

CLASSICS IV

COSMOALPHA

CRAMER FLOYD

ELECTRIC FLAG

FELICIANO JOSE

FITZGERALD ELLA

FOUR TOPS

GREEN URBIE

HAWES HAMPTON

HEBB BOBBY

JAKKI O

JORDAN STANLEY

MANN HERBIE

MARTINO PAT

MC BRIDE JOE

MEGABYTE

MONTGOMERY WES

MOTTOLA TONY

SINATRA FRANK

STALLINGS MARY

WONDER STEVIE

YANK LAWSON AND BOB HAGGART

Here's what is registered on BMI....

 

SUNNY    BMI Work #1430842

Songwriter/Composer Current Affiliation CAE/IPI #

HEBB BOBBY BMI 13671113

Artists

ANDERSON ERNESTINE

BOOKER T AND THE MG S

CLASSICS IV

COSMOALPHA

CRAMER FLOYD

ELECTRIC FLAG

FELICIANO JOSE

FITZGERALD ELLA

FOUR TOPS

GREEN URBIE

HAWES HAMPTON

HEBB BOBBY

JAKKI O

JORDAN STANLEY

MANN HERBIE

MARTINO PAT

MC BRIDE JOE

MEGABYTE

MONTGOMERY WES

MOTTOLA TONY

SINATRA FRANK

STALLINGS MARY

WONDER STEVIE

YANK LAWSON AND BOB HAGGART

link

Se they've missed Betty Lavettes early 70s take on this.......

WOOF!

Se they've missed Betty Lavettes early 70s take on this.......

WOOF!

link

It's probably not registered with BMI. Does BMI only cover UK releases?

There has been 2 cd releases devoted entirely to cover versions of Sunny A Collection of Various Interpretations of Sunny, Pt.1 with 16 versions & Pt2 with a further 17 versions!

Edited November 27, 200420 yr by CRAIG W

There has been 2 cd releases devoted entirely to cover versions of Sunny A Collection of Various Interpretations of Sunny, Pt.1 with 16 versions & Pt2 with a further 17 versions!

link

I bet they're thrilling listening

Edited November 27, 200420 yr by chalky

Marvin of the ones I've heard - beautiful Would love to hear some of the others though - never heard a female version so especially some of them!

The CD might be taking it just a little too far though (remember seeing an LP like this of 15 versions of Louie Louie...)

Edited November 27, 200420 yr by rachel

It's probably not registered with BMI.  Does BMI only cover UK releases?

link

I think BMI is solely a US organisation.

After a bit of searching about, didn't find many versions on the web but this has to be one of the most.. er.. interesting

I was actually going to mention that Rach, it's on UK Mercury.

What about Edward Hamilton - Baby don't you weep - thats practically the same tune as Sunny

Nice versions of "Sunny" and "It Was a Very Good Year" by Della Reese on ABC Paramount singles. Willie Bobo's on Verve also deserves a mention, I think.

KTF

Jas

Rachel put this idea in  my head. 

What's your favourite version of Sunny?

...and has anyone any idea how many versions there are?

Mine favourite version was Les McCann, but has recently been overtaken by JAMES BROWN.

link

I love the James Brown version, believe it's the great Marva Whitney sparring with him

Mike

Still Bobby Hebb for me- altho the Marvin Gaye version IS pure class. Friend burned me some kinda weird mix CD and the James Brown/Marva Whitney version was on there. That too is a great version- He sounds so impassioned on it, but both vocals sound restrained, like they wanna break out but can't....

It's probably not registered with BMI.  Does BMI only cover UK releases?

link

Thats because it doesnt exist...

Got mixed up with her version of STORMY.

What a doofus.....

WOOF!

Se they've missed Betty Lavettes early 70s take on this.......

WOOF!

link

Would love to hear that version,she is one of my top female vocals...Where can i get this please....

Would love to hear that version,she is one of my top female vocals...Where can i get this please....

link

See above

WOOF!

See above 

WOOF!

link

Havin' problems with the weather in them there parts cuz.

Havin' problems with the weather in them there parts cuz. 

link

Blowin hot and cold......

Anyone got a value on the Betty Lavette 45 on TCA?

Its on Mr Rimmers Discography, but it doesn't turn up much.....

WOOF!

there's a good version by the great Alan Bown Set on London Swings Live At The Marquee.

GEORGIE FAME-GOOD "WHITE" VERSION.

Just found a version of Sunny by Chuck Jackson in my collection that i have never heard before. Typical big voice & production.Brilliant.Anyone else heard this version?

Love the Marvin and Georgie Fame versions but this Chuck Jackson one sounds good...have you got a sound file???

Love the Marvin and Georgie Fame versions but this Chuck Jackson one sounds good...have you got a sound file???

Just uploaded a file to here of it.

Edited December 2, 200420 yr by CRAIG W

chuck jackson - sunny ............ gotta say i'm not keen at all , the marvin version for me is so smooth it is perfect ..

for me it's like the producer told chuck to inject some passion to the song and he missed the point completely

Davie

Oh well , try the Mary Wells version then. Sorry about the quality of these uploads as Im still learning how to get them right.

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/index.p...cmd=si&img=2429

Oh well , try the Mary Wells version then. Sorry about the quality of these uploads as Im still learning how to get them right.

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/index.p...cmd=si&img=2429

link

thats not bad , far enough away musically for me to like them both without thinkin of the other one if you know what i mean

Davie

Mary Wells is nice, cheers for the file (still nobody better than Marvin in my eyes (ears?) yet)

Billy Mills who did 'I'm number One' did a very soulful version of 'Sunny' on Sound Stage 7.

I have to say I don't particularly like the song at all. Sorry.

Paul

Curiously, nobody mentions the version by Chr, which was more or less contemporary to the original. A better "white" version than Georgie Fame's one.

The original cannot be beaten anyway as far as I am concerned, especially since I read recently what it is about. (Apologies, this is probably too serious a remark - this time I will get my coat).

The original cannot be beaten anyway as far as I am concerned, especially since I read recently what it is about. (Apologies, this is probably  too serious a remark - this time I will get my coat).

link

What is it about? I always thought it was just a great love song....

Rach

Like any good popular song it is a mixture of happiness and sadness. Of course all those who covered it were singing a love song. But the tune has got a clear tone of melancholy: it refers to someone loved in the past, who is no longer around in the present.

(This is one reason why I would not play it "for the floor").

And it is originally meant as a song about brotherly love. Bobby Hebb wrote it with his deceased brother in mind. And even John F. Kennedy, apparently:

https://www.songfacts.com/detail.lasso?id=2273

Which site also points at a cover version by the Classics IV (forgot whether they were mentioned earlier).

On a lighter note (from a German website, would you believe):

Vol.2:

1.Chris Montez - Sunny

2.Les McCann - Sunny

3.Shirley Bassey - Sunny

4.Jose Feliciano - Sunny

5.Four Tops - Sunny

6.Marian Love - Sunny

7.Walker Brothers - Sunny

8.Paul Kuhn - Sunny

9.Trini Lopez - Sunny

10.Young Trio Holt - Sunny

11.Marvin Gaye - Sunny

12.Electric Flag - Sunny

13.Leonard Nimoy - Sunny

14.Ella Fitzgerald - Sunny

15.Gary Lewis & The Playboys - Sunny

16.Brother Jack McDuff & David Newman - Sunny

Vol. 1:

1.Bobby Hebb - Sunny

2.Arthur Lyman Group - Sunny

3.Georgie Fame - Sunny

4.Booker T. & The MG's - Sunny

5.Dusty Springfield - Sunny

6.John Schroeder Orchestra - Sunny

7.Robert Mitchum - Sunny

8.Stan Kenton - Sunny

9.Herbie Mann & Tamiko Jones - Sunny

10.Stanley Turrentine - Sunny

11.Andy Williams - Sunny

12.The Ventures - Sunny

13.Cher - Sunny

14.Jimmy Smith - Sunny

15.Wilson Pickett - Sunny

16.Nancy Wilson - Sunny

Two cd's with versions of the number this thread is built upon. Many mentioned already, some overlooked and probably wrongly - others for good reasons. Paul Kuhn? Electric Flag? Surely Kai Winding must have done this one too!

Quite a few of the versions listed which had not been mentioned yet I have in my collection without even remembering it, and I suspect I am not alone in that respect...

Ah! I could stand an album of sixteen versions of Louie Louie, and I actually have the La Bamba-one, but Sunny sixteen times?

Thanks for the link

Good old Kai! Never lets you down:

https://www.bjbear71.com/Winding/Kai-3a.html

"Urbie Green, "21 Trombones", Project 3 PR-5014SD (1967).[LP]

No album photo available.

Tracklist:

It Had to Be You

Timbre

Mood Indigo

Sunny

Just Dropped In

Blue Flame

The Party

Perdido

The Green Bee

I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues

How Come You Do Me Like You Do

I Get the Blues When It Rains

Participation by Kai Winding as trombonist."

I wonder if "Just dropped in" would be the First Edition number, also covered by Betty Lavette... The album dates from 1967, so it might just be possible...

I really like Booker T & the MGs version but it's only because it was sampled by RZA to Gravediggaz "9-800 suicide" oh what a hip hop tune that is

best

Leo