Shawn Colvin — "Sunny Came Home"
Pretty, gentle, and secretly about a woman burning her house to the ground — Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" swept the 1998 Grammys, winning both Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
"Sunny Came Home" was the single, released in February 1997, from Shawn Colvin's 1996 album A Few Small Repairs, co-written with her longtime collaborator John Leventhal. Colvin has said the song's title character was inspired by a painting used on the album's cover; beneath its warm, melodic surface, the lyric follows a woman methodically preparing to burn her home down — a dark little story wrapped in a deceptively pretty folk-pop arrangement.
It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Colvin's signature song, sweeping the two biggest categories at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in February 1998: Record of the Year and Song of the Year. That night is also remembered for an unscripted moment — Ol' Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan climbed onstage and interrupted Colvin's acceptance speech to protest his group losing Best Rap Album.
The double win made Colvin, already a respected folk artist, a household name for a moment. "Sunny Came Home" remains a staple of 90s adult-alternative radio and a favorite example of a hit hiding a far darker story than its melody ever lets on.
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