“Sunshine of Your Love” is a 1967 song by the British rock band Cream. With elements of hard rock and psychedelia, it is one of Cream’s best known and most popular songs. Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce based it on a distinctive bass riff he developed after attending a Jimi Hendrix concert. Guitarist Eric Clapton and lyricist Pete Brown later contributed to the song and drummer Ginger Baker plays a distinctive tom-tom drum rhythm.
Cream’s and Felix Pappalardi’s vision resulted in songs which had a much larger impact on the rock audiences of the time. Covach and Boone identified “Sunshine of Your Love” as foreshadowing future trends in rock:’Sunshine of Your Love’, Cream’s best-known song, is a culmination of the British adaptation of blues into rock and also the direct precursor of Led Zepplelin and heavy metal, where this type of blues-based motivic riff and harmonic motions like A–C–G or E–G–A (as in “Whole Lotta Love”) serve as the basis for a seemingly endless number of songs.
The song was included on Cream’s best-selling second album Disraeli Gears in November 1967. Atco Records, the group’s American label, was initially unsure of the song’s potential. After recommendations by other label-affiliated artists, the label issued an edited version of the song as the second single from the album, backed with “SWLABR” (the running time was trimmed from 4:08 to 3:03) in December 1967. The song became Cream’s first and highest charting American single and one of the most popular singles of 1968. In September 1968, it became a modest chart hit after being released in the UK reaching No. 25.
Cream performed “Sunshine of Your Love” regularly in concert and several live recordings have been issued, including on the Royal Albert Hall in May 2005. reunion album and video. Hendrix performed faster instrumental versions of the song, which he often dedicated to Cream. Several rock journals have placed the song on their greatest song lists, such as Rolling Stone, Q magazine, and VH1. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included it on its list of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”.
A variety of musicians have recorded “Sunshine of Your Love”. After Cream announced their breakup, Hendrix often performed it in concert as a tribute to the group, apparently unaware that they had dedicated the song to him. He played it as an instrumental and sometimes as part of a medley. A performance by the Experience in January 1969 is one of the best-known. During the live broadcast of A Happening for Lulu, a music variety show hosted by pop singer Lulu on BBC Television, the Experience suddenly broke with the programme. Hendrix announced, “We’d like to stop playing this rubbish [“Hey Joe”] and dedicate a song to the Cream, regardless of what kind of group they may be in – dedicate this to Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce”. As their performance of “Sunshine of Your Love” ran into the time allotted for Lulu’s closing number, the show’s producer and staff were frantically signalling for the Experience to stop. However, they continued playing and the show ended on a fade. Hendrix later apologised to Lulu, who thought the performance made for a great television moment.
