Everybody Loves the Sunshine

from the LP Everybody Loves the Sunshine, Polydor Records, 1976




It’s a magnificent, sunny morning in the mountains today; the white snow on the peaks makes the blue sky behind them so rich and vivid. Between the scenic view in the distance and my trusty bong in front of me, I’m reminded of those most-hallowed words of one Otto, the Simpson’s school-bus driver, “I don’t need weed to enjoy anything man, just to enhance it.” Yes, I’ll be taking it easy today mon, as my college students have this coming week off for spring break, so I don’t really have to do any work, except grading, for like 10 days…(bong bubbling)…sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. This track is about as deliciously lazy & hazy as they come, and if you know Roy Ayers at all it’s no big surprise; his reputation in the worlds of both jazz and funk precedes him here in the mid-‘70s by over 15 years already. Known primarily for his unmatched skills on the vibraphone (how fucking cool of a name is that for an instrument?! “Yo, I play the vibes man”), Mr. Ayers also excels at playing the piano, ARP synthesizer (these things were gigantic), and all around composing. The song begins with a mellow shuffle beat, gentle piano, and this synth that wriggles about like a butterfly or moth emerging from its cocoon; “My life, my life, my life, my life---in the sunshine…” A single pseudo-violin note, care of some vintage moog, drones in the back, painting a broad surreal stripe right through the center of the whole track. “Sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine…” Some light tapping on the congas keeps our feet on the ground; for real, everything is so sparse and unhurried here, one could easily find themselves floating in the breeze if they're not careful. The somnolent ambiance of a sleepy, stoned day spent on the grass in some vast public park boogies through my mind; “…just bees, and thangs, and flowers...folks get down in the sunshine…” This track, and much of Roy’s discography, has been dissected by many a beatmaker, both hip-hop and house-head’s alike. “Feel what I feel, when I feel what I feel, when I’m feelin’…do what I do, when I do what I do, when I’m doin’…in the sunshine…” Word!