A guest series by The Robster
#21: Hello Sunshine (2003, Epic, 674360 7)
Let’s start with a song this week, shall we? Have a listen to this.
MP3: By The Sea – Wendy & Bonnie
Isn’t that lovely? I’m sure many of you will recognise at least part of that track (from teenage sibling duo Wendy & Bonnie’s only album ‘Genesis’ from 1969) owing to its first 30-odd seconds being sampled by Super Furry Animals as the intro to Hello Sunshine, the opening track on ‘Phantom Power’. Four months after the album’s release, a version of Hello Sunshine, sadly shorn of that intro, was released as the album’s second single.
MP3: Hello Sunshine [radio edit]
It’s a hazy, lazy little summery number about emerging from a period of darkness in one’s life and finding some joy again. Odd, really, considering the single was released in November just as the long nights were drawing in… It’s not my favourite SFA single, to be honest, I find it a bit ordinary, but it does have some pedal steel in it, and it was nice to hear that on a chart single at the time.
It has become something of a favourite among fans and not-really-fans for its line “I’m a minger/You’re a minger too”. For our overseas friends, minger is a Scottish word and defined as thus:
minger
/ˈmɪŋə/
noun : derogatory – informal
an unattractive or unpleasant person or thing.
“Why can’t anyone see that Spencer is a complete minger?”
It’s always bellowed very loudly by the audience at a SFA concert. The band has far better couplets in its arsenal (as I’ve pointed out a few times in this series) but for some reason, this one has stuck.
It’s also a song the band could have made a lot of money from when they were approached to use it in a Coca-Cola ad. However, thankfully, the band has far more morals and ethics than most musicians and turned them down flat. Gruff explained:
“We have never been a big selling band, but when it came to the crunch, we felt we couldn’t justify endorsing a product that may have had a part in violently suppressing some of its workers. For a moment, I thought that we could have done the advert and donated the money for their campaign for justice. Yet the thought of having to hear our song used to sell anything that exploits anyone for the worse turns my stomach.”
Despite the commercial potential of Hello Sunshine, it failed to set the charts alight. Perhaps if it had been put out during the summer months, it might have climbed higher than its actual chart peak of #31. It means a lot of people missed out on the b-sides. All formats – 7” picture disc, CD and DVD – had this:
MP3: Cowbird
The CD and DVD also included a third track:
MP3: Sanitizzzed
The former is an instrumental that belongs on some movie soundtrack or something. In the right context, it might be amazing, but I fail to get much out of it. The latter sounds like something the band would have done a few years earlier. It has that classic psyche-infused SFA-of-old sound, with a good melody and lots of la-la-las. And a dog. It’s clear why neither of these tracks appeared on the album, they just wouldn’t have fit anywhere.
So onto the bonus tracks:
MP3: Hello Sunshine [demo]
MP3: Hello Sunshine [Weevil remix]
The demo is wonderful and is my favourite version of the song. It’s even more laid-back than the final studio version, and features an extended bridge with extra lyrics that were eventually discarded. I also love what the band is doing in that part too. This really was a highlight of the 20th anniversary edition of ‘Phantom Power’.
I have to admit to quite liking the remix as well. It’s obviously very different, but it has its own charm and hazy warmth about it that makes it well worth a listen. It also retains the pedal steel, so a big tick for that! It featured on the remix album ‘Phantom Phorce’ along with another remix of Hello Sunshine which isn’t worth the effort as there are no recognisable parts of the original song in it, so I object to it being called a remix of anything and it won’t be posted here!
Anyway, next week, the third and final instalment of the Phantom Power singles, and it’s another special bumper post!
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Brilliant The Robster – Thank You!