Music

In a Rolling Stone interview on November 10, 1969, Ray Davies said, "Sunny Afternoon was made very quickly, in the morning, it was one of our most atmospheric sessions. I still like to keep tapes of the few minutes before the final take, things that happen before the session. Maybe it's superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently - if I had walked around the studio or gone out - it wouldn't have turned out that way. The bass player went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar: and Nicky Hopkins, who was playing piano on that session, was playing "Liza" - we always used to play that song - little things like that helped us get into the feeling of the song. At the time I wrote Sunny Afternoon I couldn't listen to anything. "I was only playing The Greatest Hits of Frank Sinatra and Dylan's Maggie's Farm - I just liked it's whole presence, I was playing the Bringing It All Back Home LP along with my Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller and Bach - it was a strange time. We thought they all helped one another, they went into the chromatic part that's in the back of the song. I once made a drawing of my voice on 'Sunny Afternoon.' It was a leaf with a very thick outline - a big blob in the background - the leaf just cutting through it." (Source) Lyrics to "Sunny Afternoon" The tax man's taken all my dough, And left me in my stately home, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. And I can't sail my yacht, He's taken everything I've got, All I've got's this sunny afternoon.Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze. I got a big fat mama trying to break me. And I love to live so pleasantly, Live this life of luxury, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime The summertime In the summertime My girlfriend's run off with my car, And gone back to her ma and pa, Telling tales of drunkenness and cruelty. Now I'm sitting here, Sipping at my ice cold beer, Lazing on a sunny afternoon.Help me, help me, help me sail away, Well give me two good reasons why I oughta stay. 'Cause I love to live so pleasantly, Live this life of luxury, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime the summertime In the summertimeAh, save me, save me, save me from this squeeze. I got a big fat mama trying to break me. And I love to live so pleasantly, Live this life of luxury, Lazing on a sunny afternoon. In the summertime The summertime In the summertime RELATED: Wild Cherry, 1976: ‘Play That Funky Music’