"Sunshine on My Shoulders" is the title of a song recorded
and co-written by American singer/songwriter John Denver. It
was released as a single in 1973 and went to number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. in early 1974.
A television movie titled "Sunshine", shown on NBC in 1973,
used the song as a theme. The movie starred Cliff DeYoung and
Cristina Raines. It told the story of a young mother in love
and dying. High ratings prompted a TV series (dubbed just
Sunshine) which ran for three months during the summer
of 1974. The short-lived series began where the movie left off
with the young widowed father (Cliff DeYoung) raising his
stepdaughter (Elizabeth Cheshire).
Denver described how he wrote "Sunshine on My Shoulders": "I
wrote the song in Minnesota at the time I call 'late winter,
early spring'. It was a dreary day, gray and slushy. The snow
was melting and it was too cold to go outside and have fun, but
God, you're ready for spring. You want to get outdoors again
and you're waiting for that sun to shine, and you remember how
sometimes just the sun itself can make you feel good. And in
that very melancholy frame of mind I wrote "Sunshine On My
Shoulders."
It was originally the B-side of one of his earlier songs,
"I'd Rather Be a Cowboy." As the Vietnam War came to an end,
the song took on a new significance and began to receive
airplay on adult contemporary radio stations. It entered the
Billboard Hot 100 at number 90 on January 26, 1974 and moved
into the number one spot nine weeks later, remaining at #1 for
one week. The song also topped the adult contemporary chart for
two weeks in 1974.
The song inspired an illustrated children's book by
Christopher Canyon.
The song was covered by Canadian singer/songwriter Carly Rae
Jepsen on her debut album.
The song is briefly heard in a Raisin Bran commercial.