Sunshine on My Shoulders

"Sunshine on My Shoulders"
Side A of 1974 US single release
Single by John Denver
from the album Poems, Prayers & Promises
A-side"I'd Rather Be a Cowboy" (original)
B-side"Around and Around" (reissue)
ReleasedMay 1973 (original)
October 22, 1973 (reissue)
Recorded1971
Genre
Length3:18 (Single version)
5:12 (Album version)
LabelRCA Records
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Milt Okun
John Denver singles chronology
"Rocky Mountain High"
(1973)
"Sunshine on My Shoulders"
(1973)
"Annie's Song"
(1974)

"Sunshine on My Shoulders" (sometimes titled simply "Sunshine") is a song recorded and co-written by American singer-songwriter John Denver. It was originally released as an album track on 1971's Poems, Prayers & Promises and later, as a single in 1973. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. in early 1974.

  1. ^ Breihan, Tom (May 13, 2019). "The Number Ones: John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 19, 2023. And while it's kind of a cynical move to add overdubbed strings to an acoustic folk song that you're trying to get onto the radio...
  2. ^ Stanley, Bob (September 13, 2013). "Beyond the Blue Horizon: Country and Western". Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop. Faber & Faber. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-571-28198-5.
  3. ^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1974". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. pp. 296–297. ISBN 9781493064601.