The lyric was written by Pete Brown, a beat poet who was friends with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. He also wrote lyrics for "I Feel Free" and "White Room." Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce wrote the music.
Pete Brown wrote the opening line after being up all night working with Bruce and watching the sun come up. In a Songfacts interview, he told the tale: "We had been working all night and had gotten some stuff done. We had very little time to write for Cream, but we happened to have some spare time and Jack came up with the riff. He was playing a stand-up - he still had his stand-up bass, because he'd been a jazz musician. He was playing stand-up bass, and he said, 'What about this then?' and played the famous riff. I looked out the window and wrote down, 'It's getting near dawn.' That's how it happened. It's actually all true, really, all real stuff."
Jack Bruce's bass line carries the song. He got the idea for it after going to a Jimi Hendrix concert. When Kees van Wee interviewed Bruce in 2003 for the Dutch magazine Heaven, Kees asked him which of his many songs epitomizes Jack Bruce the most. At first he was in doubt whether he should answer "Pieces Of Mind" or "Keep On Wondering," but then he changed his mind and opted for "Sunshine Of Your Love." Because, said Bruce, "It's based on a bass riff. And when you enter a music shop this is the song that kids always play to try out a guitar."
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