"Morning Is Broken" is a song by English singer, songwriter and musician

Lloyd Cole Lloyd Cole (born 31 January 1961) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was lead vocalist of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989 and subsequently worked solo. Early life Cole was born in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. He ...

, released in 1993 as the second and final single from his third studio album '' Bad Vibes''. The song was written by Cole and produced by Adam Peters. It reached number 83 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for two weeks.

Background

"Morning Is Broken" originated as the track "Sleeper", which was named after a patch used on it from a Sequential

Prophet VS The Prophet VS was a hybrid 8-voice synthesizer manufactured by Sequential Circuits and released in 1986. It is notable for being the first synthesizer to use vector synthesis to structure its sound, using a joystick arranged in a "diamond" patt ...

synthesiser. The song was then recorded properly, including

John Valentine Carruthers John Valentine Carruthers (born 1958 in Wortley, West Riding of Yorkshire) is an English musician, guitarist, and composer. He is mainly known for being a member of Siouxsie and the Banshees from mid-1984 until early 1987. Early years In the ear ...

on guitar and

Anton Fier John Anton Fier III (June 20, 1956 – September 14, 2022) was an American drummer, producer, composer, and bandleader. He led The Golden Palominos, an experimental rock group active from 1981 to 2010. Family Fier, known as Tony, was born in Cl ...

on drums, and a mix of the track was completed. As Cole was later unhappy with the song's structure, he reworked its arrangement and had backing vocals added. The song's original mix remained unreleased until it appeared on Cole's 2009 compilation ''Cleaning Out the Ashtrays (Collected B-Sides & Rarities 1989-2006)''. Speaking of the song's lyrics in 2005, Cole said, "I still quite like the lyric and it is, I hope, on the right side of the ''Bad Vibes'' fence. Who inspired it? More than one person, but the main one I cannot name."

Release

In the UK and Europe,

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone * Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi ...

released "Morning Is Broken" as the second and final single from ''Bad Vibes'' on 8 November 1993. In 1994, the song was released in the US as a CD-5

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

. It was one of the nominations at the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers' 1994 Indie Awards under the 'Pop music' category.

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Jane Downing of the ''

Sunday Sun The ''Sunday Sun'' is a regional Sunday newspaper on sale in North East England, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders, published in Newcastle Upon Tyne by Reach plc. First published on 31 August 1919 as ''The Sunday Sun'', the name was changed to th ...

'' gave "Morning Is Broken" a 9 out of 10 rating and commented, "Lloyd hasn't had much luck with singles lately, but this is not a bad little number and will probably end up in the charts." Graham Dunbar of ''

The Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its the ...

'' remarked, "Very mature with a U2-esque thumping guitar but Lloyd has lost his sense of humour and direction." In a review of ''Bad Vibes'', Andrew Collins of '' Select'' described it as "an unruly, strutting late-nite rocker with drums like a good kicking and guitars that fume".

Track listing

7–inch single (UK and Europe) #"Morning Is Broken" – 5:20 #"Radio City Music Hall" – 2:46 CD single (UK and Europe) #"Morning Is Broken" – 5:20 #"Radio City Music Hall" – 2:46 #"Eat Your Greens" – 4:01 CD single, limited edition (UK and Europe) #"Morning Is Broken" – 5:20 #"The Slider" – 3:18 #"Mannish Girl" – 4:16 CD extended play (US) #"Morning Is Broken" (Edit) – 3:55 #"My Way to You" – 4:20 #"The Slider" – 3:18 #" Vicious" – 3:53 #"Mystic Lady" – 3:04

Personnel

Production * Adam Peters – producer (all tracks except "Mannish Girl") *

– producer ("Mannish Girl") *

Bob Clearmountain Bob Clearmountain (born Chiaramonte, January 15, 1953) is an American mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Pretenders, and Bryan A ...

– mixing ("Morning Is Broken", "Radio City Music Hall", "My Way to You") Other * David Sims – photography

Charts

References

{{authority control 1993 songs 1993 singles 1994 EPs Lloyd Cole songs Songs written by Lloyd Cole Fontana Records singles Rykodisc EPs