Songfacts®:

• "On Sunset" is a personal celebration of Paul Weller's love of soul. A recent visit to Sunset Strip, the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the California city of West Hollywood, inspired the tune. Weller told Mojo magazine that it struck him that all the venues The Jam played there back in 1977 were gone. The lyrics reflect upon that idea that those old memories now belong to "someone else's life."
• Longtime collaborator Steve Craddock plays electric guitar on the track while British trumpet and flugelhorn player Johnny Thirkell performs the trumpet. Thirkell has played on over 6,000 recordings with such artists as George Michael, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Spice Girls and The Who. Among the many smash hits he's contributed towards are Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" and BTS' "Dynamite."
• This is the title track of Paul Weller's 15th solo album. He co-produced the On Sunset record with Stan Kybert, whom the Modfather also teamed up with for his 2015 Saturns Pattern set.
• On Sunset topped the UK albums chart, Weller's fifth solo record to do so. He also reached #1 with The Jam's The Gift and Style Council's Our Favourite Shop.
• Paul Weller explained to Mojo magazine that the song was inspired by a visit to his son Natt in LA, when he stayed at what used to be the Continental Hyatt House and allowed himself to drift back to his first sojourn on Sunset Strip in his Jam days. From there he built up the story. "The guy in the song could be visiting an old lover," he added. "Or a friend. Expecting it to be as it was but it isn't."
• Natt Weller's boyfriend, Ukrainian fashion film director Martin Kovalenko, directed this song's music video.