"Waitin' on a Sunny Day" is a song by Bruce Springsteen that was first released in a recording with the E Street Band on his 2002 album The Rising. Although the song was not released as a single in the United States, it was released as a single in Europe, and was a hit in Sweden. It has subsequently become an audience favorite of Springsteen and the E Street Band's concert performances.

While many songs on The Rising were written in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" was written earlier. Springsteen wrote and recorded the song in 1998 or 1999, but that recording has not been released. On June 17, 1999, during the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour, Springsteen and the band played the song for a soundcheck, but they did not play it during any of the actual shows on the tour. The song was finally recorded again in Atlanta during the Rising sessions and was released on that album.

The song combines a simple, bouncy melody and arrangement powered by drums, acoustic guitars, and Soozie Tyrell's violin with a lyric that describes optimism in a couple's relationship:

The words of the chorus are deliberately simple, to the consternation of some critics:

Instrumental breaks during the middle and end of the song feature Clarence Clemons's saxophone set against a glockenspiel and a backing vocal chorus singing "oohs" and "aahs".

Although "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" was written prior to the September 11 attacks, the song's theme of wanting to be happy again takes on additional meanings within the context of the album's explicitly themed September 11 songs. In his book The Gospel According to Bruce Springsteen, author Jeffrey Symynkywicz views the song as a reflection of the simpler world prior to September 11.

"Waitin' on a Sunny Day" is one of a few songs on The Rising that recall the E Street Band's R&B roots. Springsteen has described it as "a good example of pop songwriting" and also as the type of song he tends to "want to throw out...directly into the trash can" until former producer Jon Landau talks him out of it. Springsteen has also stated that he wrote the song in the style of Smokey Robinson.

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