“Lovely Day” is a 1977 soul song written by Bill Withers and Skip Scarborough. Withers recorded it with producers Withers and Clarence McDonald. It appeared on his sixth album, Menagerie, and was issued as a single by Columbia Records. The song is usually classed as R&B, soul, funk and disco. It reached No. 6 on the US Billboard R&B listing and No. 30 on the Hot 100 in early 1978, No. 7 in the UK on its first run and No. 1 in France, and it returned to the UK listings in 1987. The Ben Liebrand “Sunshine Mix” reached No. 4 in 1988.
Withers holds a high E for about 18 seconds near the end, the longest such note of any US top-40 hit. Later the song was used in advertising for Tetley tea, Gap, and a 2020 campaign for the NFL, Allstate and Pandora. Demi Lovato performed it on Celebrating America in January 2021. Covers include versions by Georgie Fame, Luther Vandross, Busta Rhymes, Maroon 5 with Withers, Diana Ross, Take 6 and alt-J. Rolling Stone ranked it No. 402 in its 2021 list of the 500 best songs.
