People like to discount Wikipedia for being a source of misinformation, but I’ll tell ‘ya, a quick read of the page for Ain’t No Sunshine nets you some pretty damn good factoids on this 1971 Bill Withers classic. 1) Produced by Booker T. 2) Donald “Duck” Dunn plays the bass 3) Withers was working at a factory making toilet seats when he wrote the song. Okay, #3 they claim to have a source for from Rolling Stone but the link is broken, but I *want* to believe them. I’m sure it’s true. Anyway, literally hundreds of people have covered Ain’t No Sunshine, a search of allmusic.com brings you 1,456 results. What we’ve got below is 10 renditions we think are worth a listen.

The Contestants:

This same Buddy Guy album (Bring ‘Em In) appeared two weeks ago in the I Put A Spell On You Cover Wars. Carlos Santana joined Guy on that cover while Tracy Chapman joins him on this one. This cover features an early key change, multiple vocalists, horns – the whole nine yards.

READ ON for the audio and video of nine more Ain’t No Sunshine covers…

This instrumental cover from the 1987 Fareed Haque album Manresa will not be the last you see of Fareed in this Cover Wars.

In her first of many sit-ins with Umphrey’s McGee over the years, Jennifer Hartswick performed this cover on 9-11-2005 at the Higher Ground in Vermont.

I unearthed this video off of an old computer of mine last night as I was writing this:

Hate the hits of John Mayer all you want. That I’ll give you. But the man is talented and he delivers a great cover here. Source: 3-17-2010

I’m not sure this performance by Kenny Rogers during A&E Live really requires any additional description.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, most famous for their appearance on Paul Simon’s Graceland, performs not fully a capella here but with a little help from a backing band.

Michael Jackson was 13 years old when his debut solo album Got To Be There was released. And it’s incredible.

Papa Mali contributes a slightly dubbed out cover here that my friend Hedgehog aptly titled Ain’t No Dubshine. Source: 12-7-2004

This cover by avant-garde jazz musician Rahsaan Roland Kirk on his album Blacknuss was recorded just shortly after Bill Withers originally recorded the song.

And there is just so much going on in this Sting video. Yes that is Fareed Haque. Yes that is Bill Frisell. David Sanborn on Saxophone, and most importantly: Sting’s mustache.

Checking in on last week’s Buckets of Rain Cover Wars, M. Ward & Beth Orton have emerged victorious with Neko Case and Bette Midler currently sitting tied in second place.

Ain’t No Sunshine, Who Did It Best?survey software

A video from the original before we go:

And just in case you haven’t familiarized yourself with this gem: