Sunshine Superman


"Sunshine Superman" is a song written and recorded by Donovan. The "Sunshine Superman" single was released in the United States through Epic Records in July 1966, but due to a contractual dispute the United Kingdom release was delayed until December 1966, where it appeared on Donovan's previous label, Pye Records. The "Sunshine Superman" single was backed with "The Trip" on both the United States and United Kingdom releases. It has been described as " classics of the era," and as "the quintessential bright summer sing along".
"Sunshine Superman" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and subsequently became the title track of Donovan's third album, Sunshine Superman. Chart positions were No. 1, and No. 2 . It was Donovan's only single to reach No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. A different mix of "The Trip" is also included in the album. It was the first product from the highly successful three-year collaboration between Donovan and producer Mickie Most and is generally considered to be one of the first examples of the musical genre that came to be known as psychedelia. The song features styles of psychedelic pop, folk rock, psychedelic folk, and psychedelic rock.
Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, later of Led Zeppelin, play on the recording.

In popular culture

Various incarnations of a Sunshine Superman have appeared in comics produced by DC Comics, the publishers of the Superman character. Writer Grant Morrison referenced the song in a 1990 issue of Animal Man by creating Sunshine Superman, an African American version of Superman whose S-shield is sun-shaped and who was a member of the Love Syndicate of Dreamworld, from a world based on the drug culture of the 1960s. Sunshine Superman and his world were wiped out by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, only to be brought back by the Psycho-Pirate before fading away again. Sunshine Superman returned for a brief, non-speaking cameo in Final Crisis #7, in an army of alternate Supermen. In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Dreamworld Earth is reintroduced as Earth-47, where an iteration of Sunshine Superman and the Love Syndicate exist.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

The Sports version

Australian rock band The Sports released a version as the lead single from their extended play album, The Sports Play Dylan . The song peaked at number 22 on the Australian Kent Music Report.

Track listing

; Australian 7" Vinyl K-8497

Other cover versions

A French cover version "C'est un secret" was released in 1967 by Jenny Rock.
Folk singer, Jewel, recorded her own cover for the 1996 movie, I Shot Andy Warhol.
Seattle band Telekinesis performed a version of the song in July 2013 for The A.V. Club A.V. Undercover: Summer Break series.
Punk band Hüsker Dü recorded a fast-paced version of the song on their 1983 album Everything Falls Apart.

Personnel