"Sunny Came Home" is a folk-rock song by American musician

Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early ...

. It is the opening track on her 1996

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, '' A Few Small Repairs'', and was released as a CD and

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

on June 24, 1997. In the United Kingdom, the song was released on the same formats in May 1998. "Sunny Came Home" was a commercial success, reaching number seven on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, becoming her first entry and top 10 on chart to date and number three in Canada. The song was also a critical success, winning both

Grammy Award for Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and Song of the Year and was nominated for

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

Background and composition

"Sunny Came Home" is written in the key of

B minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes neede ...

(with its chorus in

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

) in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 84 beats per minute. Colvin's vocals span from F₃ to B₄ in the song. Colvin was inspired to write the lyrics of the song by the painting she had chosen for the album cover, which shows a woman with a lit match in her hand.

Chart performance

"Sunny Came Home" is Colvin's only hit, peaking at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States and topped the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart for four weeks. Colvin's record label did not plan to release the track as a retail single until it became an airplay favorite on

contemporary hit radio Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...

as well as adult contemporary and adult alternative radio stations. "Sunny Came Home" also became a major hit in Canada, reaching number three on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles chart for two weeks and peaking atop the ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary chart for three weeks. Outside North America, the song became a moderate hit, peaking at number 29 in the United Kingdom, number 44 in Australia and number 90 in Germany.

Awards

At the

1998 Grammy Awards The 40th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998, at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Rock icon Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss & Union Station, and R. Kelly were th ...

, it was named Song of the Year and

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

. Rapper

Ol' Dirty Bastard Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004), better known by his stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard (often abbreviated as ODB), was an American rapper. He was one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, a rap group primarily fr ...

interrupted the Grammy Awards presentation by protesting

Puff Daddy Puff may refer to: Science and technology * Puff, a small quantity of gas or smoke in the air ** Puff, a light gust of wind ** Exhalation ** Inhalation * Puff model, volcanic ash tracking model developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks * PUF ...

beating his group,

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affili ...

, for Best Rap Album that year, saying "Wu-Tang is for the children. We teach the children. You know what I mean?", while Colvin was about to receive her award.

Track listings

All songs were written by Shawn Colvin and

John Leventhal John Leventhal (born December 18, 1952) is a musician, producer, songwriter, and recording engineer who has produced albums for William Bell, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Michelle Branch, Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin, Sarah Jarosz, Rodne ...

unless otherwise noted. US CD single # "Sunny Came Home" – 4:24 # "What I Get Paid For" – 3:23 UK CD1 # "Sunny Came Home" # "Get Out of This House" (live) # "The Facts About Jimmy" (live) # "

You and the Mona Lisa "You and The Mona Lisa" is a folk-rock song by United States, American musician Shawn Colvin. The song was released in September 1997 as the third single from her album, ''A Few Small Repairs''. "You and The Mona Lisa" was the follow-up to her 199 ...

" (live) UK CD2 # "Sunny Came Home" # "Tennessee" (live) # "Ricochet in Time" (live) # "Shotgun Down the Avalanche" (live) UK cassette single # "Sunny Came Home" # "You and the Mona Lisa" (live) European CD single # "Sunny Came Home" # "Get Out of This House" (live) Australian CD single # "Sunny Came Home" # "What I Get Paid For" # " Every Little Thing He Does Is Magic" # "Steady On" # "Round of Blues" (album version)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

Shawn Colvin's official website
{{Navboxes , title = Awards for "Sunny Came Home" , titlestyle = background: lightblue , list1 = {{Grammy Award for Record of the Year 1990s {{Grammy Award for Song of the Year 1990s 1996 songs 1997 singles Columbia Records singles Grammy Award for Record of the Year Grammy Award for Song of the Year Murder ballads Shawn Colvin songs Songs written by John Leventhal Songs written by Shawn Colvin