Ain't No Sunshine

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Bill Withers LIVE, doing one of his biggest hits.

This was Withers' first hit. After spending 9 years in the US Navy, he had a job at a factory making parts for airplanes when he was introduced to Booker T. Jones from Booker T. & the MG's. Booker was an elite session musician with Stax Records, where Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and many other Soul legends recorded. He brought in some other top-notch musicians, including Stephen Stills on lead guitar, and produced this album for Withers, who was 32 when it was recorded.

All the instruments on this are acoustic.

The part where Withers repeats "I know, I know," has become a very recognizable piece of the song, but it wasn't what he had in mind. Explains Withers:
"I wasn't going to do that, then Booker T. said, 'No, leave it like that.' I was going to write something there, but there was a general consensus in the studio. 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 MGs 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. So when their general feeling was, 'Leave it like that,' I left it like that."