About that song

There have been plenty of times I've talked, and at least one time I've written, about how strange it is that people listen to the same song hundreds of times without ever realizing what it's about. 

Today I am mentioning that phenomenon again -- while looking in the mirror.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past half-century, you have surely heard the song "Morning Has Broken" on the radio. It topped the Billboard charts when it was recorded by Cat Stevens in the 1970's and it still gets played today.

If you are like most contemporary Westerners, you have likely done what I did many times, which means you probably heard its piano intro and opening lines -- "Morning has broken like the first morning / Blackbird has spoken like the first bird" -- and reflexively assumed it's a song about sitting outside watching the day break.

And yes, it is about that. To an extent. But the fact that it likens the morning's sights and sounds to "the first" such sights and sounds should clue us in that there's a lot more going on here, especially when the opening verse concludes with the lyric "Praise for them springing fresh from the Word." That's not world as in planet (which many people probably think they just heard) but Word with a telltale capital W, as in John 1:1.

What we have here is a biblical reference. One that sees God in the present and is clear, not cryptic, even though it does employ a certain dash of subtlety in the way it flows toward the listener.

The succeeding verses keep the religious adoration coming with lines like "Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden / sprung in completeness where His feet pass" and "Born of the one light Eden saw play / Praise with elation, praise every morning / God's recreation of the new day."

DJ's and radio personalities never refer to "Morning Has Broken" as a Judeo-Christian song, but a Judeo-Christian song is precisely what it is. I wish I could say I figured that out all on my own, but I'd be lying. For decades it would come on the radio and I would listen to it without really listening because I never focused on the words... until one recent Sunday when I heard it not on the radio but at church, and not during some progressive watered-down flavor-of-the-month non-denominational hipster service but at a full-blown Catholic Mass.

As a member of a Methodist church who was raised going to a Baptist one, attending Mass and not being able to take Communion is not something that comes naturally to me. But hey, I'm a Christian and I'm naturally curious, so why not check out Mass, right?

So a few weeks ago, when the familiar tune of "Morning Has Broken" began to play in a Tampa nave and hundreds of parishioners began singing it in unison, my eardrums snapped to attention. 'Twas not unlike what might occur to a secular Baby Boomer who wanders into a church service for the first time and automatically thinks of a certain folk-rock anthem as soon as the pastor starts reading from Ecclesiastes: "For everything there is a season... a time to be born, and a time to die... a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace."

That morning I actually paid attention to the lyrics of "Morning Has Broken," marinating in them and thus realizing that their imagery is multi-layered.

And being me, I couldn't leave it at that. I had to research the song's background as well.

Although Cat Stevens made his mark as a singer/songwriter of the rock era, "Morning Has Broken" was not written by him nor was it written during the rock era. It dates back more than 90 years, to when the British compilers of a hymnal called Songs of Praise (published in 1925) perceived a need for a hymn that gives thanks for each day.

They approached Sussex resident Eleanor Farjeon to fill the void, asking her to craft an appropriate poem and fit it to the Gaelic tune "Bunessan" from the Ross of Mull on Scotland's west coast. Farjeon came through with "Morning Has Broken," which then got published in Songs of Praise's second edition in 1931. As Songs of Praise was widely used in the U.K., especially in schools and a number of Anglican and Catholic churches, "Morning Has Broken" grew some roots and came to be sung at many funerals and children's services.

Forty years after the song was first published, Stevens teamed up with Rick Wakeman -- better known as the keyboardist for Yes -- who added the piano arrangement to extend its play time beyond the three-minute mark that record labels considered so important. Their recording borrowed "Morning Has Broken" from the ranks of pretty church hymns and added it to the ranks of platinum-selling pop hits, charting at #1 in the United States, #3 in New Zealand, and #4 in Australia, Canada, and Norway.

When he was the subject of this Dailymotion news segment several years ago, Wakeman, himself a devout Christian, offered this remark when "Morning Has Broken" came up: "It's the most beautiful song. 'Morning Has Broken' has subconsciously brought a lot of people a little bit closer to the truth, and I'm very proud of that."

And, well, there I was not long ago... 50 years old... 50 years after Stevens tabbed Wakeman to help him record "Morning Has Broken" for his album Teaser and the Firecat... and I was standing in a church outside my norm (but not outside my faith) filled with people of all ages who 100 percent knew this was a religious hymn and didn't need anyone to tell them.

I still believe most contemporary Westerners recognize this song without realizing what it's really about, and I think that's a shame.

But I am glad to have learned that there are also quite a few contemporary Westerners who aren't so blind, even if I'm a wee bit embarrassed that it took me so long to join them.

Consider this an example of why people should pull the wax out of their ears and blinders off of their eyes. It's amazing what a person can learn simply by paying attention and not always thinking about his or her self.