Katrina and the Waves – Walking on Sunshine

I had just graduated high school in 1985 and I was on CoCo Beach with some of my friends and this song takes me back there. Four guys in a Toyota Celica driving 15 hours to a place called Coco Beach. We picked it because of the name…not for the easy driving. We could have picked Pensacola and it would have been a 6 1/2 hour drive plus a better beach with the gulf…but live and learn.

This is one upbeat and positive song! I was about to graduate when I heard this song and I felt like the world was open and anything could happen. I wasn’t jaded yet but it felt good while it lasted.

The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #8 on the UK Charts, and #3 in Canada in 1985… hard to believe this song is 38 years old. This song has been a staple on pop stations and any supermarket near you.

The members were Katrina Leskanich, Kimberley Rew, Vince de la Cruz, and Alex Cooper. This song has been in almost 70 movies and television series.

Guitarist Kimberley Rew wrote the song and he also wrote “Going Down To Liverpool” which was covered by the Bangles. When that song was covered in 1984 it brought attention to Katrina and the Waves because Going Down To Liverpool was on their debut album Walking On Sunshine in 1983. One of the songs on there was of course...Walking on Sunshine but it was reworked with horns for their 1985 album Katrina And The Waves. That is the version we all know.

The band went on to release eight more albums, concluding with 1997’s Walk on Water. The album featured the lead single “Love Shine a Light,” which hit No. 3 in the UK and won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest. The band later disbanded in 1999 after struggling to replace Leskanich, who left the year prior. But they will always be remembered because of this song that will never go away.

Katrina and the Waves were dropped by Capitol Records one year later. Katrina Leskanich: “They thought we were the new Monkees, The Beach Boys,” but we weren’t even that kind of band. We were cooler. I thought I was Nico from The Velvet Underground. Black turtlenecks, eyeliner, no smiling in photographs …”

Original Version

Walking On Sunshine

Ow

Mm, yeah
I used to think maybe you loved me, now, baby, I’m sure
And I just can’t wait till the day when you knock on my door
Now every time I go for the mailbox, gotta hold myself down
‘Cause I just can’t wait till you write me you’re coming around

I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
And don’t it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don’t it feel good
Hey, yeah

I used to think maybe you loved me, now I know that it’s true
And I don’t want to spend my whole life just a-waiting for you
Now, I don’t want you back for the weekend, not back for a day, no, no, no
I said, baby, I just want you back, and I want you to stay

Oh, yeah, now I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
And don’t it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don’t it feel good
Yeah, oh, yeah, now
And don’t it feel good

Walking on sunshine
Walking on sunshine

I feel alive, I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real
I feel alive, I feel the love, I feel the love that’s really real
I’m on sunshine, baby, oh
Oh, yeah, I’m on sunshine, baby

Oh, I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
I’m walking on sunshine, whoa
And don’t it feel good
Hey, all right now
And don’t it feel good
I’ll say it, I’ll say it, I’ll say it again now
And don’t it feel good
Hey, yeah now
And don’t it feel good
Now don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it
And don’t it feel good
I’ll say it, I’ll say it, I’ll say it again now
And don’t it feel good
Now don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it, don’t it
And don’t it feel good
Now tell me, tell me, tell me again now
And don’t it feel good
Oh, yeah, now
And don’t it feel good
Oh, don’t it feel good, don’t it feel good
Now don’t it feel good
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah
And don’t it feel good
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah
And don’t it feel good

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Katrina and the Waves – Walking on Sunshine”

  1. Great pick, Max! An iconic song with an undeniable exuberance. I didn’t realise the hit version (with the horns) was an updated version of a version they’d already recorded 😳. Love finding out that kind of stuff. I’d already loved “Going Down to Liverpool” by The Bangles and thought it was cool that both songs were written by Kimberly Rew, who I was surprised to find out was a man (who had also been a member of Robyn Hitchcock’s pre-Egyptians band The Soft Boys). Thanks for your blog. Really enjoying it!

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    1. I didn’t know there was an earlier version either!
      Yes I like Going Down To Liverpool as well.
      Glad you mentioned Robyn Hitchcock…I have to do another post by him.
      Thanks for reading!

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  2. A great song and a fun band! I was lucky enough to have lived right where they somehow got popular first, so I had the first two ‘indie’ albums including the original of this song, which in a pinch I think I like a bit more than the hit version (though both are good). I was quite happy for them that they made it so big with this in ’85 or so. In my experience though, it’s a divisive song…I’ve probably met as many people who Hate it with a capital H as those who love it.

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    1. We never played it seriously…but in practice we did and it’s fun because it’s so driving.
      I think some people are just so tired of it. I will always think Florida in 85 along with Springsteen’s Born in the USA.

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    1. Yea it’s a happy song no doubt. I’ll catch up with you this weekend. Work has been terrible…the opposite of this song…Walking In Hell is more like it.

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