"'Sunny Afternoon' was made very quickly, in the morning, it was one of our most atmospheric sessions. I still like to keep tapes of the few minutes before the final take, things that happen before the session. Maybe it's superstitious, but I believe if I had done things differently - if I had walked around the studio or gone out - it wouldn't have turned out that way.

Glenn Miller Orchestra - "In The Mood"

Glenn Gould - "Aria"/Goldberg Variations (Bach)

The bass player went off and started playing funny little classical things on the bass, more like a lead guitar: and Nicky Hopkins, who was playing piano on that session, was playing 'Liza' - we always used to play that song - little things like that helped us get into the feeling of the song. At one time I wrote 'Sunny Afternoon' I couldn't listen to anything. I was only playing The Greatest Hits of Frank Sinatra and Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm' - I just liked it's whole presence, I was playing the Bringing It All Back Home LP along with my Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller and Bach - it was a strange time.

Bob Dylan - "Maggie's Farm"

Frank Sinatra - "Summer Wind"

I thought they all helped one another, they went into the chromatic part that's in the back of the song. I once made a drawing of my voice on 'Sunny Afternoon'. It was a leaf with a very thick outline - a big blob in the background - the leaf just cutting through it" (Ray Davies)

(2011)