In The Morning

Which version of Morning Dew did you hear first? For me it started with King Loser on You Cannot Kill What Does not Live.

The song was written by Bonnie Dobson in 1962. Blabla Wikipedia Dobson said she was inspired by the 1959 post-apocalyptic film On the Beach. So what we get is an exchange of first impressions between two people after everything’s gone awry with atomic bliss. And I think that’s actually when the song works best, with two singers.

So after an afternoon of research, those are the versions I found: bagpipes (Jori Chisholm), Hardrock with bagpipes (Angus Mohr), loads of new-age tripe but I think the name refers to the result of condensed atmospheric vapour rather than to a version of the song, Tom Constanten own piano version, cringe-making crapy proto Jon Bon Jovi (Blackfoot), Irish folk good-timers (The Buskers), new western (Fatal Shore), some terrifying bad throat singing (la Muerte from the album Experiment in Terror – successfully passed although I appreciated the use of the Stooges' single-note piano thumping), two versions by Nazareth (the 1981 version is especially prickly), Australian Dave Graney (couldn’t get my hand on it), good enough Episode 6, Tim Rose not so bad, surprisingly awful Devo, a nice live effort although spoiled by an excited crowd (Billy Corgan and Spirits in the Sky, it’s on youtube) and on the top of my list Lulu’s version is pretty good, Vince Martin & Fred Neil (always an old favourite even if he tried to steal the writing credits of the song), Damnation of Adam Blessing, London’s experimental rockers Skullflower, a good old psyche-flavoured (The Rats), the ever manly croaky Mister Lee Hazlewood, a convincing Marc Almond live version; and possibly equally perfect as King Loser’s number, Einsturzende Neubauten, from their fourth album.

And they’re the ones I’m giving you. Oh, and I almost forgotten The Greatful Dead (Constanten does better on that one).

Einsturzende Neubauten - Morning Dew (1987)
King Loser - Morning Dew (1996)