sun worship

Veneration of the sun or its representation as a deity. It appears in several early cultures, notably in ancient Egypt, Indo-Europe, and Mesoamerica, where urban civilizations were combined with a strong ideology of sacred kingship, in which kings ruled by the power of the sun and claimed descent from it. The imagery of the sun as the ruler of both the upper and the lower world, which he visits daily, was prominent. Sun heroes and deities also figure in many mythologies, including Indo-Iranian, Greco-Roman, and Scandinavian. In late Roman history, sun worship was of such importance that it was later called “solar monotheism.” Seealso Amaterasu, Re, Shamash, Sol, Surya, Tonatiuh.

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Sun Goddess is a 1974 Jazz album by Ramsey Lewis.

About the Album

After his classic acoustic albums in the 1960s, Ramsey Lewis wanted to head into a new direction in his music. He reunited with Maurice White who at that time was with his own R&B band, Earth, Wind & Fire. Having the EW&F band play in the background, was what made this album work. Lewis wrote and created what can be considered his top electric jazz song Sun Goddess. The song was one of Lewis' greatest triumphs in the Jazz world as well as the R&B world.

The album became a huge cross-over hit, charting #1 on the Billboard Black Albums chart as well as the Jazz album chart. The album also charted #12 in the Pop chart. While the album charted in the top 15, the songs Hot Dawgit and Sun Goddess charted in the Black Singles, the Pop Singles and the Disco singles charts.

The title track bares a strong resemblance to the theme song from Reading Rainbow.

Track listing

1. "Sun Goddess" (Lind, White) - 8:29
2. "Living for the City" (Wonder) - 5:20
3. "Love Song" (Lewis) - 5:53
4. "Jungle Strut" (Lewis) - 4:40
5. "Hot Dawgit" (Stepney, White) - 3:00
6. "Tambura" (Lewis) - 2:53
7. "Gemini Rising" (Lewis) - 5:50

Personnel

• Dave Antler - Engineer
• Philip Bailey - Conga, Vocals
• John Berg - Cover Design
• Cleveland Eaton - Bass, Guitar (Bass)
• Richard Evans - Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements
• Johnny Graham - Guitar
• Byron Gregory - Guitar
• Maurice Jennings - percussion, Conga, drums, Tambourine
• Ramsey Lewis - Synthesizer, Guitar, Piano, Guitar (Electric), Piano (Electric), Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, String Machine
• Don Meyrick - Sax (Tenor)
• Derf Reklaw-Raheem - Conga, Drums, Vocals
• Charles Stepney - Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Fender Rhodes
• Maurice White - Drums, Timbales, Vocals
• Verdine White - Bass, Vocals

Charts

Year	Chart	Position
1975	Billboard Black Albums	1
1975	Billboard Jazz Albums	1
1975	Billboard Pop Albums	12

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1975	Sun Goddess	Billboard Disco Singles	5
1975	Sun Goddess	Billboard Black Singles	20
1975	Sun Goddess	Billboard Pop Singles	44
1975	Hot Dawgit	Billboard Pop Singles	50
1975	Hot Dawgit	Billboard Black Singles	61