I’ll be honest – the main reason I like this song is because it’s featured in Notting Hill, my favourite film. Aside from imbuing me with images of Portobello Road, the Ritz, the escapism of a romantic love story and the frankly laughable notion of ever being able to afford to live in London, it’s a great song.
The song is about a man missing a woman. Lots of songs are about men missing women. However, to say that the sun itself stops shining when his love interest leaves is an incredibly powerful concept if you think about it hard enough. The feeling that a single person can make the sun shine simply by existing is a beautiful, beautiful notion. Naturally, the idea of such a strong love mirrors the depth of sadness at the departure of the love interest. The song remains on the right side of sentiment, perfect for a romantic comedy which isn’t saturated with saccharine clichés. “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone/And this house just ain’t no home/Anytime she goes away.” It also perfectly fits Julia Roberts’ character, Anna, and her inconsistent appearance in Hugh Grant’s life.
Love isn’t complicated. Yes, it creates a 3-bird roast of a whirlwind wrapped inside a hurricane wrapped inside an earthquake within us, but those are the side effects, if you will. You realise you feel for someone, and suddenly your mind goes into overdrive with worries, thoughts, insecurities, excitement, nervousness. Meanwhile, love is just sitting there, filing its nails and watching the fireworks.
Ain’t No Sunshine distils the experience of love and heartbreak down to its basic fundamentals. There is no climactic point in the song. No melismatic scale-climbing typical of many soul or blues artists. Sometimes, however, understated is more effective. The song eschews a sense of dramatic catharsis and allows an engagement with the depth of the words.
It almost mirrors the famous scene from Notting Hill – Julia Roberts stands in a bookshop with a creaky wooden floor in front of Hugh Grant and simply states “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” Sometimes the soft, uncomplicated declaration can more deeply convey what we feel than the most dramatic and embellished of performances. Someone smiles at you and your sun comes out. See? Simple.