Which Bill Withers song opens with the line "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone"?

The Bill Withers song that opens with the line “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone” is “Ain’t No Sunshine.” Withers wrote and recorded the song for his 1971 debut album, Just as I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones.

The spare soul recording became Withers’s breakthrough hit. Its lyrics describe loneliness and emotional dependence after a relationship ends, while the repeated “I know” refrain gives the song its instantly recognizable tension. The famous repeated phrase near the ending was reportedly intended as a temporary vocal placeholder, but it was kept in the final recording.

“Ain’t No Sunshine” reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song in 1972. A common mix-up is confusing it with Withers’s later hits “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day,” or “Use Me”; all are associated with the singer, but none begins with that lyric.