"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. She is best known for her 1997 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early life Colvin was born Shawna Lee Colvin in Vermillion, South Dakota, and ...

. 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 (music), single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was introduced in 1980 in music, 1 ...

on June 24, 1997. In the United Kingdom, the song was released in July 1997 but did not chart until a re-release 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 advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the 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), o ...

to become Colvin's first entry and first top-10 single on the chart. In Canada, the song peaked at number three, while in Iceland, it reached number 20. 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

Shawn Colvin was inspired to write the lyrics of "Sunny Came Home" by the painting she had chosen for the album cover, which shows a woman with a lit match in her hand. The song 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 need ...

(with its chorus in

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

) in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

with a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 84 beats per minute. Colvin's vocals span from F₃ to B₄ in the song.

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

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

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 r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' 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. Performers * Will Smith – Men In Black/ Gettin' Jiggy Wit It * R. K ...

, 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 re ...

. Rapper

Ol' Dirty Bastard Russell Tyrone Jones (November 15, 1968 – November 13, 2004), known professionally as Ol' Dirty Bastard (often abbreviated as ODB), was an American rapper. He was one of the founding members of the New York rap group Wu-Tang Clan, which forme ...

interrupted the Grammy Awards presentation by protesting

Puff Daddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

beating his group,

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop collective formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and, until his death in 2004, O ...

, 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 an American 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 ...

unless otherwise noted. US CD and cassette 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" (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
{{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 American folk rock songs