Taylor wrote "Sunny Skies" during his treatment at the Austen Riggs Center.

[1][2] Taylor's biographer, Timothy White, describes the melody as "a deceptively upbeat, skiffle-flavored shuffle".

[1][2] The singer, like Taylor himself at the time, wonders if his accomplishments were worth the suffering he went through to achieve them.

[1] Perrone also notes that, like the title character, Taylor had gone through a period where he was too depressed to get up in the morning.

[2] "Sunny Skies" was included on the 1990 version of the compilation album The Best of James Taylor.