“Ain’t No Sunshine” is not just Bill Withers‘ first hit, it has also become his biggest song, at least if Spotify streams are to be believed. It has hundreds of thousands of streams more than his next most popular song, “Lovely Day.” Rather incredibly, it has something like four times as many streams as “Lean on Me,” which was once his biggest song; “Lean on Me” topped the charts in the ’70s. So maybe, at this point, it’s his signature song.
British singer Sam Smith will be playing a residency at San Francisco’s legendary Castro Theatre. To celebrate the venue and their residency, they’ve covered “Ain’t No Sunshine,” with a slight change to the lyric. The video for this new cover is more explicitly a celebration of the theatre and the community.
Smith strips away much of the ornamentation of the original. An acoustic guitar is the primary instrument, doing triple duty as it’s the only bass and percussion in the song. There is something like a string section, as with the original, but it is used sparingly. The result is that the focus is entirely on Smith’s performance, and they make the song their own. Just as soulful as the original, but an entirely different kind of soul. Just listen to how Smith sing’s the famous repetition of “I know.”
Much like the original, Smith’s version is extremely brief. We can’t believe the song’s already over, but it’s actually only something like six seconds shorter than Withers’ version. Regardless of length, it’s a great performance of a great song.
