Hebb wrote the song in the 48 hours following a double tragedy on November 22 , 1963 : the day U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated , and Hebb 's older brother Harold was also stabbed to death outside a Nashville nightclub . Hebb was devastated by both events and many critics say that those events , and critically the loss of his older brother , inspired the lyrics and tune . According to Hebb , he merely wrote the song as an expression of a preference for a '' " sunny " '' disposition over a '' " lousy " '' disposition following the murder of his brother
John F. Kennedy was assassinated
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Sunny (Bobby Hebb song)