Ain’t Got None

This week’s prompt over at Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday is song with a harmonica in it. So, I chose Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

---

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 goes away

[Verse 2]
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

[Verse 3]
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 the young thing alone
But ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone

[Verse 4]
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

 

Song Facts

“Ain’t No Sunshine” was released as a B-side to the song “Harlem” in 1971. At the time of the song’s recording, Withers was working at a factory making toilet seats for Boeing 747 planes and he was inspired to write the song after watching the film Days of Wine and Roses.

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.

The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top 40 in Australia, Canada and the UK. It later won a Grammy Award in 1972 for Best R&B Song.

“Ain’t No Sunshine” continues to be lauded as one of the best songs ever recorded. It was included on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, was ranked of #20 on Mojo magazine’s 100 Greatest Songs of All Time, and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

For the song’s third verse, 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.”