If you’re coming to Sunshine of Your Love fresh, you could easily think it’s a Hendrix tune. It carries that raw, slightly wild tone Hendrix was known for, but the riff was actually Jack Bruce’s creation on bass. Eric Clapton said in a 1988 interview that Bruce created the riff after attending a Jimi Hendrix concert. Fittingly, Hendrix later played the song onstage as a tribute when Cream broke up in 1968. He often played faster instrumental versions, usually dedicating them to Cream. A neat little full circle.
Bruce built the riff after an all-night writing session with lyricist Pete Brown. Nothing was working until Brown, exhausted, said, “It’s getting near dawn and lights close their tired eyes.” That line semed to have done the trick. The finished song became a shared vocal between Bruce and Eric Clapton, mixing bluesy weight, hard-rock and a touch of psychedelia.
The track appeared on Cream’s second album, Disraeli Gears (Nov. 1967), which marked their shift from blues-based rock into something more experimental and colourful. Their U.S. label wasn’t initially convinced the song would work as a single, but after some friendly pressure from other musicians, it was released in December 1967. It went on to become their biggest American hit – No. 5 on the Billboard charts – and one of 1968’s most popular singles. Back home in the UK, it landed more modestly at No. 25.
Cream kept Sunshine of Your Love as a concert staple, including during their 2005 reunion shows at the Royal Albert Hall. Over the years, the song has settled comfortably into the upper shelves of rock history, appearing on “greatest songs” lists from Rolling Stone, Q, VH1, and others.
It’s getting near dawn
When lights close their tired eyes
I’ll soon be with you, my love
Give you my dawn surprise
I’ll be with you, darling, soon
I’ll be with you when the stars start fallin
[Chorus]
I’ve been waiting so long
To be where I’m going
In the sunshine of your love
[Verse 2]
I’m with you, my love
The light’s shining through on you
Yes, I’m with you, my love
It’s the morning, and just we two
I’ll stay with you, darlin’, now
I’ll stay with you ’til my seas are dried up
References:
1. Sunshine of Your Love – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Fucking love Cream. What a great sound! I was 7 years old in 1967 ~ I remember how the music got harder, cooler, more dangerous.
It’s impressive what they were able to achieve during their brief 3 year career.
What a damn great song. It’s so powerful with that riff and then those lyrics come in. White Room has that power as well.
Yes, it’s magnificent Max. Thanks for chiming in buddy.
Obviously, a classic. I pretty much love everything Cream – except perhaps the 16-minute-plus live version of “Toad” and the seemingly never-ending solo of drum dynamo Ginger Baker – only a complete nutcase like Baker could pull that off!😆
really nice