I mean, if you don’t love the sunshine then…you’re a vampire?

Anyway, this song by vibraphonist/vocalist/bandleader Roy Ayers (and his fluid backing unit, Ubiquity) is a summer cookout barbecue classic that’s grown in stature over the past four decades. While I’m sure I heard it on the radio as a kid, “Sunshine” first really embedded itself in my psyche by virtue of being sampled in Brand Nubian’s “Wake Up”. It’s gone on to become one of the more sampled songs in popular music history-most notably on the title track of Mary J. Blige’s seminal My Life LP.

Ayers’ music got busier as the years went on-he kinda caught the disco bug in the late ‘70s and then went full on synth-funk in the early ‘80s, but “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” is a laid back, lazy jam that conjures up images of warmth and summertime-two of my favorite things.