Bill Withers Owes His Career Partly to Graham Nash, and This Hit Single

In 1971, Bill Withers released “Ain’t No Sunshine”. The song, on his debut Just As I Am album, is Withers’ third single. It is also his first big hit.

Written solely by Withers, “Ain’t No Sunshine” begins with, “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone / It’s not warm when she’s away / Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone / And she’s always gone too long / Anytime she goes away.” But it’s the chorus, which repeats the phrase “I know”  26 times, which makes the song stand out.

Withers has Graham Nash at least partly to thank for the success of “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Withers recalls his producer, Booker T. Jones, wanting Withers to leave that part in. Still, Withers wasn’t convinced until Nash offered his opinion on the song.

“I was going to write something there, but there was a general consensus in the studio,” Withers tells Songfacts. “It was an interesting thing because I’ve got all these guys that were already established, and I was working in the factory at the time. Graham Nash was sitting right in front of me, just offering his support. Stephen Stills was playing, and there was Booker T. and Al Jackson and Donald Dunn – all of the [Booker T. & the MG’s] except Steve Cropper.

“They were all these people with all this experience and all these reputations, and I was this factory worker just sort of puttering around,” he adds. “So when their general feeling was, ‘Leave it like that,’ I left it like that.”

What Graham Nash Says About Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”

Of course, Nash wasn’t the only one to convince Withers to keep the repetitive “I know” in the chorus. Still, it’s Nash’s voice that might have had the most influence on Withers. Nash was in the studio recording his own music when he heard “Ain’t No Sunshine” for the first time.

“I was taking a break, probably smoking a joint outside, and I heard this music coming from one of the other studios,” Nash remembers. “I was curious, and I walked in. And there was this African American with a guitar, sitting on a chair, with his foot on a box. That was the rhythm he was creating.

“He finished the song, and I said, ‘Who are you, man? That’s a fantastic song! What’s going on in your life?’” Nash continues. “And he says, ‘Well, I’m kind of giving up. I can’t seem to break through. Nobody seems interested. Maybe I’ll just give up.’ And I said, ‘Wait a second. I don’t know who the f–k you are, but you cannot give up. What you have is an incredible gift. You should recognize that and get on with it.’ And he loved that.”

“Ain’t No Sunshine” has been recorded by numerous other artists after Withers, including Michael Jackson. Jackson’s version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” is part of Got To Be There, Jackson’s debut solo album.

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