What do you think Sunny Came Home means?

Shawn Colvin: Sunny Came Home Meaning

Album cover for Sunny Came Home album cover

Song Released: 1997


Sunny Came Home Lyrics

Sunny came home to her favorite room
Sunny sat down in the kitchen
She opened a book and a box of tools
Sunny came home with a mission


She says days go by I'm hypnotized
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into...

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  1. anonymous
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     May 13th 2021 !⃝

    Sunny is what the underworld would call a "mechanic" i.e. a hitman or professional killer. The book is her "kill book" The record that every sniper keeps of all their successful encounters. The box of tools is the case containing her rifle.
    Sunny has spent her entire life killing strangers for money but now she is going to finally take revenge on the people who made her what she is. She says she's walking on a wire meaning she's fighting for someone else - the woman she used to be. "Count the years you always knew it", her whole life has been preparation for this moment in time.

  2. anonymous
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     Sep 14th 2020 !⃝

    Exactly what happended with Forest’s girlfriend in the movie .... she hates memories of her chilhood....incest relationship with loves one.... like father and inaction of her mother.... because of the “ Epoque” that they are living

  3. anonymous
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     Jan 10th 2020 !⃝

    I think it sounds like a woman who is now either in prison or in a mental asylum, reminiscing about setting her house on fire. She seems to have few, if any, regrets. Presumably, she was in an unhappy situation and dealt with it by torching the house, possibly with the people who made her unhappy inside. I picture an unstable woman in an abusive marriage, but may be wrong. The "get the kids and bring a sweater" bit tells me that she got her progeny out safely, at least.

  4. anonymous
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     Mar 27th 2019 !⃝

    After reading these explanations I feel a little off by saying this but I think that sonny comes home and sets a fire and burns down her house with her kids inside and then leaves a free woman. I'm sorry about rIt almost sounds like she is casting a spell when she says the part....but wind is better....strike a match go on and do it. Is she a series arsonist? I think the wire she walks is her sanity.

  5. anonymous
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     Mar 18th 2019 !⃝

    Sunny is a serial killer. She came home with a LIST of names and with a vengeance. She probably ate the people from her list as well. So a cannibal. Where am I getting this information? Well the cannibal part I just made up a few minutes ago. It sounded good. The serial killer part...the list of names and the vengeance.

    Sunny's list of names could also be the names of employees she plans to fire. She's a manager at Burger King and during the last week more than 73 Whoppers came back because they were made incorrectly. Retraining the employees didn't work, counseling didn't work, etc. So now Sunny has no choice...she has to fire them.

    Either of these explanations make sense.

  6. anonymous
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     Mar 5th 2018 !⃝

    Sunny was a victim of child rape at the hands of the union army when they burned Atlanta down.


    Then she had to flee her home, while the city burned behind her.

    She then came back for her revenge where she started a fire that would drive out the scallywags who raped and pillaged her homeland.

    "Dry is fine, but wind is better" she is describing the things that make a southern brush fire run wild.

    She burned out the ones who forced her to flee because she was small and weak. Grab the kids and take a sweater

  7. anonymous
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     Jan 26th 2013 !⃝

    I remember an interview shawn colvin did not long after the release of this song. She said it was her interpretation of a painting she saw.
    They showed the painting in the interview and i want to say it was even used in the album art. Not 100% on the album part but im sure it was her interpretation of that painting. What a random thing to remember. I wasnt even a fma

  8. anonymous
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     Dec 17th 2012 !⃝

    I first heard this song when I was two years old. Maybe it's because of what was happening to me then but I have always thought it was about a child enduring abuse. I guess in my two year old mind that's what I could connect with when I heard words that I understood. It seems like a very dark song but in the end it seems to take a turn for the better.

  9. anonymous
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     Aug 25th 2012 !⃝

    Sunny Came Home to abuse everyday by either both parents or one parent but both parents knew. She had all she could stand.They were on her list. She got her brothers and sister out and she lite the fire. She may have not have got herself out. This is my opinion

  10. anonymous
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     Apr 9th 2012 !⃝

    This song, despite the gentle melody, is like a civil defense siren screaming CHILD ABUSE...but that's just my impression.

  11. gornman
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     May 11th 2011 !⃝

    Sunny came home,by shawn colvin,is an excellent song.It won best song of the year in 1998 at the grammys.It came out in 1997.The simple meaning of the song is this:It is simply about the end of the Civil War in 1865 in the U.S.Sunny is someone from the south.The lady,or girl,simply comes home.I would say that the area is most likely,Atlanta,Georgia.She comes home and sees Atlanta in burning flames and ruins.The repair lyrics are simply about repairing the damage done to Atlanta,and the south,by the Union army.The flames in the sky reference simply means that the south lies in ruins.When one reads the song lyrics,and then remembers the songs guitar music,one can only come to this conclusion.A very powerfull and moving song.

  12. anonymous
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     Apr 20th 2011 !⃝

    I think the point of the song is about Sunny leaving to get revenge.

    She came home to build weapons like bombs. ("Opened a book and a box of tools")
    The chorus is talking about how she is so sick of her daily life. Her tolerance had run out and she came home to punish people who had made her life terrible.
    Sunny's list of names is a list of people she plans on punishing. The people on the list are the ones who pissed her off and she wants to remove ("repair") them from her list. These are the people who make up Sunny's vengeance. ("Sunny came home with a vengeance")
    The next verse is like Sunny reflecting on everything that brought her this far and her anger makes her light a match which I'm guessing she burns her house down with.
    I think it is her house because it later says "the world is burning down". Her burning down her house was like a start to her journey.

    The song is ironic because it sounds soft and happy, and the name Sunny is looked at has sunlight and happy. I’m not sure if my interpretation is completely right, but I think it tells a good story.


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