# Walkin' on the Sun

"Walkin' on the Sun" is a song by American rock band Smash Mouth from their first album, Fush Yu Mang (1997). Smash Mouth released it as their debut single in June 1997, the song was Smash Mouth's first major single, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart. It was also a success abroad, peaking at No. 3 in Canada and Iceland, No. 5 in Italy and Spain, and No. 7 in Australia, where it is certified platinum for shipments exceeding 70,000 units.

## Background

Smash Mouth guitarist Greg Camp said about "Walkin' on the Sun":
   It was written during the whole Rodney King thing. The song was basically a social and racial battle cry. It was a sort of "Can't we all get along?" song for the time when I wrote it. It was just about all the things that were going on around me as a young person. And I'm, like, God, what is going on? I don't understand why this is happening. It's like we might as well be walking around a planet on fire. And that's how it came about.
Paul De Lisle, the band's bassist, stated the original version of "Walkin' on the Sun" was more of a rap song. The band decided to record the song for Fush Yu Mang after drummer Kevin Coleman discovered a demo on one of Camp's tapes; it was the last song to be added to the album.
The guitar riff present throughout the song has been compared to a riff from "Swan's Splashdown" by Perrey & Kingsley, from their 1966 album The In Sound from Way Out, as well as the Hohner Pianet riff from The Zombies' "She's Not There".

## Critical reception

Pan-European magazine Music & Media described it as a "punchy and highly infectious track." They noted that it "deftly fuses punk and ska—and that's a feat which it manages while avoiding sounding stereotypical of either genre." Music Week rated the song five out of five, adding, "This fun-loving US quartet have managed to fuse The Doors with the Stereo MCs to create a deliciously frug-inducing slice of slacker pop. A cracker." A reviewer from NME wrote, "'Walkin' On The Sun' is a classic, straight out of the groovy, secret agent world of Austin Powers. Although it was written in the aftermath of the Rodney King beatings, it has an organ hook that's a deadringer for The Zombies' 'She's Not There' and growling staccato vocal that make it the perfect soundtrack for a strut down Carnaby Street circa 1967." Ian Hyland from Sunday Mirror gave the song nine out of ten. He commented, "It's jingly jangly American guitar music and Radio One are playing it to death. It'll be massive, then they'll disappear."

## Music video

The song's accompanying music video, directed by McG, begins with each band member, one at a time, walking down a dark alley. Then, the band performs in a room while scenes of Steve Harwell pushing a remote control makes two girls appear under a glass dome. Afterwards, the band performs on a beach while beachgoers dance around them. The scene then changes to the band performing in front of the two same girls in an area full of flashing bright lights. A drag race is then shown in the street where a yellow hot rod races against an orange hot rod which the band is in. However, in the middle of the race, the orange hot rod implicitly crashes, and the race attendees and female race judge rush over to the scene. The band still performs while lying on the ground despite the crash. The video ends with them leaning close to the camera.

## Personnel

Smash Mouth
* Steve Harwell – vocals
* Paul De Lisle – bass, vocals
* Greg Camp – guitar, vocals
* Kevin Coleman – drums
Additional personnel
* Eric Valentine – keyboards, percussion
* John Grove, John Gibson, Lee Harris – horns
* J. Grady, Mark Harwell, Anzimee Camp, Kelly Young, Boston Johnny, Jason Slater, Sam Burbank, Dan Plok – vocals

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Australia (ARIA) | Platinum | 70,000$^^$ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) | Gold | 15,000$^‡$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Silver | 200,000$^‡$ |
| $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||

## Release history

| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) |
| United States | June 30, 1997 | Modern rock radio | Interscope |
| United States | August 26, 1997 | Contemporary hit radio | Interscope |
| United Kingdom | October 13, 1997 | CDcassette | Interscope |
| Japan | September 23, 1998 | CD | Interscope |

## Use in media

The song is a playable track in the video game Rock Band 3 and was featured in the movies An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), Made of Honor (2008), the television film Shredderman Rules (2007) and in the UK trailer for What Just Happened (2008). It was also featured in early television advertisements to promote the Fox series Firefly in 2002. The television series ER featured the song during the opening scene of Season 4 Episode 13 "Carter's Choice", when Dr. Carter was arriving at work in the snow.
The song is included in "Weird Al" Yankovic's medley "Polka Power!" from his 1999 album Running With Scissors. Neil Cicierega sampled the song in "Daft Mouth" from the 2014 mashup album Mouth Sounds.