"Morning has broken"

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:18 AM -0600 3/7/09, Barbara Need wrote:
>On 6 Mar 2009, at 10:50 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>>At 10:39 AM -0600 3/6/09, Barbara Need wrote:
>>>On 2 Mar 2009, at 6:56 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>
>>>>At 3:23 PM -0500 3/2/09, Ann Burlingham wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>"Morning has broken" by Eleanor Farjeon became a song by Cat
>>>>>Stevens.
>>>>>
>>>>Well yes, but it was a song by others decades before that.  I
>>>>remember hearing an old version on some folk recording or other
>>>>before the Cat Stevens version, and I see from the wiki entry
>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Has_Broken that it was actually
>>>>a Christian hymn.  In fact according to this entry Farjeon wrote the
>>>>words to fit a pre-existing "Gaelic tune" which I assume (although
>>>>the description here isn't definitive) is the same tune (but not the
>>>>same arrangement) as in the Stevens recording.
>>>
>>>Yes, the hymn is in the Unitarian Hymnal (pre-1961) and may be in
>>>subsequent UU Hymnals. I have sung it often. Same tune.
>>
>>Ah, exactly.  _Singing the Living Tradition_.  Yes, it's still in
>>there, from when Cat was a kitty.
>
>Actually, _Hymns for the Celebration of Life_. (Thus the title _Hymns
>for the Cerebration of Strife_ by Chris Raible--including such gems as
>"Coffee, Coffee, Coffee" and "All Creatures Strange Come to Our
>Church".) The real one was bound in maroon and usually called "the red
>hymnal"--at least in the churches I have attended.
>
Well, I just checked today.  It's in _Singing the Living Tradition_,
the current (black) U-U hymnal (1993 edition).  "Morning Has Broken"
is #38; the words are credited to Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) and the
music to a "Gaelic melody" copyrighted by OUP in 1931.  Cat Stevens
is not mentioned.

LH

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