[Perform-talk] Annotated Liner Notes: Morning Has Broken

[Marion & Martin]

Dear Fellow Federationists,
    On Sunday (October 18), I will wrap the recording and mixing of my newest album - Little Things! In the final stages of this project, I am writing annotated liner notes which will be available as a text document on the CD. Unlike regular liner notes that list a songs time and credits, these annotated notes will provide insight into the song and its recording. 
    The album will be released on Sunday, November 15 at a concert that will be held at New Life Unity Church, where I serve as Music Director. The CD is a collection of New Thought music, also called PosiMusic, and features my arrangement of Terry Kelly's "Power of the Dream".  
    Below are the liner notes for Morning Has Broken in which I share some of the history of this song. If you find this information interesting and would like to share it with others, please feel free to pass this message on! If you would like to be added to my group distribution list for future emailings from me, please send me a message at
swampfox1833 at verizon.net
with the subject "Add Me to Your Email List". 

Peace & Blessings!
Marion Gwizdala

 

 

Morning Has Broken (3:10)

Lyrics by Eleanor Fajeon

Music Traditional Gaelic



Irish Whistle: John S. Nagy

 

            Morning Has Broken is usually associated with Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) who recorded it on his 1971 album "Teaser and the Firecat". The piano part is credited to Rick Wakeman, who later became a member of the rock band "Yes" and who claims he was never paid the $25 Stevens agreed to pay him. However, the history of this song is even more interesting.

            Though many people believe that Morning Has Broken is an original Cat Stevens song, this is not so! The melody is an old Gaelic melody called "Bunessan,", honoring a small island town in Scotland and performed by wandering minstrels since the late 1600s. The melody was first published in 1888 along with Gaelic lyrics written by Mary McDonald entitled "Child in a manger; Infant of Mary", a Christmas song which first appeared in "Songs and Hymns of the Gael" in 1888. In 1923, Eleanor Fajeon wrote the current lyrics. 

            Though the song seems to be written in the ¾ time of a waltz, the actual time signature of the song is 9/4, meaning there are nine beats to a measure with the quarter note getting one beat. Another musical tidbit about this arrangement is that the introduction is played in the key of "D", transitions to the Key of "C" for the first two verses, back to the key of "D" for the third verse, returning to the key of "C" for the repeat of the first verse, and ends in the key of "D". These multiple key changes give this song its dynamic power. The Irish whistle heard on my recording is performed by Dr. John Nagy, who builds his own whistles. 

            While mixing this song, I imagined the sounds of a lush garden heard in my guitar with the sun rising -first with faint lights represented by the barely audible whistle that crescendos with each verse into full, bright sounds in which you can almost hear the black bird singing "like the first bird"!