Thursday Inspiration #202 Morning Has Broken

Respond to this challenge, by either using the prompt word bird, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Morning Has Broken’, or by going with another song by Cat Stevens, or anything else that you think fits.  ‘Morning Has Broken’ is a Christian hymn that was first published in 1931.  The English author Eleanor Farjeon wrote the lyrics when she was inspired by a beautiful morning walk that she took in the village of Alfriston in East Sussex.  The song was then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune, ‘Bunessan’ (based on a Scottish folk melody, first associated with the Christmas carol ‘Child in the Manger, Infant of Mary’), after a village of the same name on the isle of Mull.  The lyric is a reference to the book of Genesis in the Bible, where God creates Earth on the first morning.  It is often sung in children’s services and in funeral services.

English pop musician and folk singer Cat Stevens included a version on his 1971 fifth studio album Teaser and the Firecat.  The song became identified with Stevens due to the popularity of this recording and it reached #6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and it charted #9 in the UK.  Stevens discovered the hymn in a hymn book he found at a bookstore while looking for (public domain) song ideas.  Stevens’ choice to include this song on his album was met with much resistance by his record label ‘Island’, who were busy trying to promote Stevens as the English James Taylor.  Paul Samwell-Smith who was producing the album was also against the song’s inclusion for more practical reasons, as the hymn has no chorus and consisted of only 4 verses, which made its initial recording time much too short, being only 45 seconds long.

Before he joined the progressive rock group Yes, Rick Wakeman was a session musician, and he played the piano on this track.  Stevens reached out to Wakeman asking if he could help with a piano arrangement for the song.  On the day of recording, Wakeman, was playing some melodies which impressed Cat Stevens, so he asked Rick if they could use that, and Wakeman reluctantly agreed.  This arrangement for the start, middle and end of the song, extended the track to 3 minutes 20 seconds.  Wakeman got no credit for his contribution on the album, and he only received meagre £10 for all his hard work.  Rick would have the last laugh because Cat Stevens was not able to play the song live on stage without Wakeman’s input.

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world