Morning Has Broken

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"Morning Has Broken" is a favorite and well-known Christian hymn, especially popular in children's services. Cat Stevens included an acoustic version on his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat. It became a signature song for Stevens when it reached number 9 in the charts in 1972.

The lyrics[1] were written by Eleanor Farjeon in 1922 and are found in the hymnals of many denominations.[2] The original poem can be found in the anthology "Children's Bells" under Farjeon's original title A Morning Song (For the First Day of Spring), published by Oxford University Press in 1957. The tune to which it is normally sung is called "Bunessan", based upon a Scottish Gaelic traditional melody. Before Farjeon's words, it was used as a Christmas carol which began "Child in the manger, Infant of Mary", translated from the Gaelic lyrics written by Mary MacDonald. [3] The English-language Roman Catholic hymnal also uses the tune for the hymn "This Day God Gives Me".

Writing credit for "Morning Has Broken" has occasionally been erroneously attributed to Stevens, who popularized the song abroad. The familiar piano arrangement on Stevens' album was performed by Rick Wakeman, a classically trained keyboardist with the English progressive rock band Yes. In 2000, Wakeman released an instrumental version of "Morning Has Broken" on an album of the same title.

The familiar piano intro and general structure of the piece may be attributed to Stevens or to Wakeman. Although some sources report that the song was released on Floyd Cramer's 1961 album Last Date, discographies of the artist demonstrate that the song is not on that album. In fact, Cramer did not record the song until 1972, when he used the arrangement that he attributed to Cat Stevens.[4]

The song has been recorded by numerous other artists, including Judy Collins, Floyd Cramer (twice), Dana, Neil Diamond, Art Garfunkel, Nana Mouskouri, Aaron Neville, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, Sister Janet Mead, Roger Whittaker and Ellen Greene recently on Pushing Daisies.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lyrics of "Morning Has Broken"
  2. ^ McCann, Forrest M. (1997). Hymns & History: An Annotated Survey of Sources. Abilene, TX: ACU Press. ISBN 0-89112-058-0. Pp. 200, 399.
  3. ^ Gaelic original
  4. ^ See, for example, http://www.rocky-52.net/chanteursc/cramer_f.htm


[edit] External links

  • Easybyte — free easy piano arrangement of "Morning Has Broken" / "Bunessan"