Angel of the Morning



"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song written by Chip Taylor that has been recorded numerous times and has been a hit single for various artists including Merrilee Rush, Juice Newton, Nina Simone, P. P. Arnold, Olivia Newton-John, The Pretenders/Chrissie Hynde, Dusty Springfield, Mary Mason, Melba Montgomery, Vagiant, Billie Davis, Bonnie Tyler, Rita Wilson and Skeeter Davis.

Original and charting versions
Written and composed by New York City-born songwriter Chip Taylor, "Angel of the Morning" was originally offered to Connie Francis to sing, but she turned it down because she thought that it was too risqué for her career. The song's narrator describes the breakup of a presumably illicit love affair: "If morning's echo says we've sinned, well, it was what I wanted now."

Taylor produced a recording of the song with Evie Sands but the financial straits of Cameo-Parkway Records, which had Sands on their roster, reportedly prevented either that version's release or its distribution. Other early recordings of the song were made in 1967 by Danny Michaels for Lee Hazlewood's LHI label and by UK vocalist Billie Davis.

"Angel of the Morning" finally became a hit in 1968 via a recording by Merrilee Rush made that January at American Sound Studios in Memphis with Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill producing. Rush had come to Memphis through the group she fronted, the Turnabouts, being the opening act for a Paul Revere and the Raiders tour. While in Memphis, the Raiders recorded the album Going to Memphis at American Sound Studios, an association which led to Rush's discovery by Tommy Cogbill who had been hoping to find the right voice for "Angel of the Morning" – he had kept a tape of the demo of that song constantly in his pocket for several months. Rush recorded the song and the tracks which would comprise her Angel of the Morning album with the American Sound houseband although the single and the album would be credited to the group Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts. The "Angel of the Morning" single was released in February 1968 to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 that June peaking at No. 7. A No. 1 hit in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, "Angel of the Morning" also afforded Rush a hit in the Netherlands (No. 4). "Angel of the Morning" earned Rush a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary-Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Rush would cut a new version of the song for her 1977 eponymous album release. Rush's version of "Angel of the Morning" would be featured on the soundtrack of the 1999 film Girl, Interrupted – whose time frame is 1967–68 – in which composer Chip Taylor's niece Angelina Jolie had a starring role.

In the United Kingdom where the Merrilee Rush version had failed to reach the Top 50 stalling at No. 55, "Angel of the Morning" reached No. 29 in August 1968 via a rendition by P. P. Arnold who had sung background on the 1967 Billie Davis version; Arnold's version was produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. In 1977 Mary Mason also had a UK Top 30 hit with her version (in fact a medley of two Chip Taylor songs: "Angel of the Morning – Any Way That You Want Me"), which reached No. 27. British act Guys 'n' Dolls had a hit in the Netherlands in 1977 with "Angel of the Morning", their version reaching No. 11 on the Dutch chart.

The most successful C&W version of the song – tying with the Juice Newton version discussed in the paragraph below – is the 1978 release by Melba Montgomery which reached No. 22 on the Billboard C&W chart. Previously "Angel of the Morning" had appeared on the Billboard C&W chart via a rendition by Connie Eaton (No. 34, 1970).

The highest-charting and best-selling version in the United States was recorded and released in 1981 by country-rock singer Juice Newton for her album Juice, released on Capitol Records. Newton remade the song at the suggestion of Steve Meyer who promoted Capitol Records product to radio stations and felt a version of "Angel of the Morning" by Newton would be a strong candidate for airplay. Newton would state that she would never have herself thought of recording "Angel of the Morning", and although she immediately recognized the Merrilee Rush hit when Meyer played it for her (quote): "I [hadn't been] really aware of that song because...when [it] was popular I was listening to folk music and R&B and not Pop, and that was a very Pop song." Newton's version reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 22 on the Billboard country music chart, and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart in April of that year. The recording also earned Newton a Grammy nomination in the same category as Rush's 1968 hit. More than 1 million units of Newton's single of the song were sold in the United States, and the single reached the Top 10 in a number of other countries, including Canada and Australia. Notably, Newton's video for "Angel of the Morning" was the first country-music music video aired on MTV; it first aired in 1981. In the UK, this recording reached No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart, marking the song's third appearance on that chart without becoming a truly major hit. Newton recorded the song again in 1998 for her The Trouble with Angels album.

The song "Angel", by reggae artist Shaggy, heavily samples "Angel of the Morning", using the melody with different words for the sung refrain. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending March 31, 2001.

Swedish singer Jill Johnson released "Angel of the Morning", with lyrics in English, in 2007 from her cover album Music Row. This version peaked at No. 30 at the Swedish singles chart.

Versions by Chip Taylor

 * In 1972, Taylor released a version on Buddah 325. It reached #101 in the Record World survey.
 * In 1996, Taylor released a version on the album Hit Man.
 * In 1999, a version by Taylor appeared on the KGSR fundraiser CD Broadcasts Vol. 7.
 * In 2004, Taylor released a version of the song with his singer/songwriter partner Carrie Rodriguez on the album of the same name.

Non-charting versions

 * In 1968, the American singer Joya Landis recorded a late rocksteady/early reggae version of this song in Jamaica for producer Arthur "Duke" Reid and his Treasure Isle label. The UK release (Trojan TR-622) had "Love Letters" by Phyllis Dillon and Alton Ellis as the B-side. It also appeared on the compilation album Soul Of Jamaica a.k.a. Come Rock With Me In Jamaica, and on the Trojan compilation album, Tighten Up, Volume 1 (both 1968).
 * The Chicks, a female New Zealand pop duo, released their version on their 1968 album C'mon Chicks .
 * Allison Durbin, who was dubbed "Australia's Queen of Pop" in the 1960s, released a version on her 1968 album I Have Loved Me a Man.
 * Soul singer Bettye Swann had a single release of "Angel of the Morning" in 1969.
 * The New Seekers included "Angel of the Morning" on their self-titled debut album (1969).
 * Nina Simone recorded the song in 1971 on Here Comes the Sun.
 * Norwegian singer Ellen Nikolaysen recorded the song for her 1973 English language album Freckles.
 * Soul singer Thelma Jones recorded the song for her eponymous 1978 album.
 * Reggae singer Samantha Rose recorded a Lover's rock version on the In Person LP in 1979.
 * Vintage British Invasion group The Tremeloes recorded the song in 1987 as an attempted comeback single.
 * In 1991, horror punk band Haunted Garage included the chorus of "Angel of the Morning" in the bridge of their song "Theme" on the album Possession Park, changing the lyrics to "Satan of the morning".
 * In 1995, Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders sang their own version on the Friends soundtrack album. The song was released as a single but did not chart.
 * The short-lived British girl band Thunderbugs recorded an upbeat version of the song for their 1999 debut album, Delicious.
 * In 2003 Maggie Reilly recorded "Angel of the Morning" for her album Save It for a Rainy Day.
 * The Boston-based band Tijuana Sweetheart (then named VAGIANT) released a cover on their debut album, Public Display of Infection.
 * The Atlanta-based band Girlyman released a cover on its 2007 live album, Somewhere Different Now.
 * Melinda Schneider and Beccy Cole covered the song on their album Great Women of Country (2014).

Translated versions
A number of non-English versions of "Angel of the Morning" have been recorded including the following:


 * In Czech as "Dál jen vejdi" a 1989 single by Věra Martinová
 * In Dutch as "Vlinder van een zomer" a 1968 single by Willeke Alberti.
 * In French as "Au revoir et à demain" (literally: "goodbye and see you tomorrow") a 1967 single by Liliane Saint-Pierre.
 * In Finnish as "Kaipuu" a 1968 single by Pepe Willberg and also as "Jos Itket Silloin" recorded by Pirjo Lehti for her 1985 Se On Rakkautta Oikeaa album.
 * In Italian as "Gli occhi verdi dell'amore" (literally: "the green eyes of love") which was a 1969 hit in Italy at No. 9 for I Profeti.
 * In German as "Der Engel der Verdammten" by Juliane Werding on her 1975 album Wenn du denkst, dass du denkst, dann denkst du nur, du denkst and also as " "Ich bin dein Engel bis zum Morgen" a 1981 single by Suzanne Klee.
 * In Spanish as "Ángel de la Mañana" by Enrique Guzmán in 1975.
 * In Swedish as "En enda morgon" recorded by Elisabeth Andreassen for her 1981 album Angel of the Morning and also as "Nattens sista ängel" recorded by Wizex for their 1982 album Nattfjäril. These respective lyricists for these versions were Mats Rådberg and Roine Carlsson.
 * In Russian as "Нелегальный Ангел" (Nelegal'nyj Angel) by Julia Kova in 2005.

Film and television
The Merrilee Rush version of the song is featured in the soundtrack of the films, Girl, Interrupted and Violet and Daisy. The Rush version is also played during a scene in the 1978 film Fingers, where it is used to accentuate the conflicted nature of the main character played by Harvey Keitel. The song was performed live by Chrissie Hynde in a 1995 episode of Friends titled "The One with the Baby on the Bus", and that version also appears in that show's soundtrack album. The song also makes an appearance in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, with Tom Cruise's titular character singing what appears to be the original version, enthusiastically if badly. More recently, Conan O'Brien has referenced the track, during periodic ironic pledges to cease his show's use of arbitrary and stupid humor in which he presents a gorilla dressed as a nurse who uses an old-fashioned abdominal exerciser while enjoying the song. In "Branch Closing", an episode of The Office, Michael Scott sings "Levinson in the morning" to his supervisor, Jan Levinson.

Juice Newton's version is heard during Drew Barrymore's first scene in the film Charlie's Angels, in the film Charlie Wilson's War (in which it is also sung by Emily Blunt), the opening titles of Deadpool, and the ending of The Meddler. It is also featured in Season 1 of HBO's True Detective.

The Toyota Highlander "Kid Cave" commercial, aired from late 2010, features a young boy who is embarrassed by his parents' singing of the song while he is riding with them in a car.

The song features in an episode of ABC's sitcom Modern Family, "Regrets Only" (Series 2, Ep 16), when Gloria, portrayed by Sofia Vergara, is singing along to it on a karaoke machine. A karaoke version of the song is also featured in the second-season finale of the HBO series The Leftovers. Juice Newton's re-recorded version of the song was featured in the opening credits of the 2016 film Deadpool

Versions (English language-chronology)

 * 1967: Evie Sands (original recording), Billie Davis
 * 1968: Merrilee Rush and The Turnabouts, Asha Puthli and The Surfers, P. P. Arnold, Percy Faith, Ray Conniff
 * 1969: Dusty Springfield (TV performance on Decidedly Dusty), Skeeter Davis, Bettye Swann, the New Seekers, the Tremeloes, Connie Eaton
 * 1970: The Aggressors on their album Reggae Steadae Go
 * 1971: Nina Simone
 * 1973: Olivia Newton-John
 * 1977: Merrilee Rush (re-recording for United Artists Records), Guys 'n' Dolls, Mary Mason ("Angel of the Morning"/"Any Way That You Want Me" medley)
 * 1978: Melba Montgomery, Thelma Jones, Pat Kelly
 * 1981: Elisabeth Andreassen, Juice Newton, the States
 * 1987: The Tremeloes
 * 1995: The Pretenders
 * 1998: Juice Newton (re-recording), Bonnie Tyler
 * 1998: Gitte Haenning (Gitte Hænning) WEA Records Warner music Germany
 * 1998: Bonnie Tyler
 * 1999: Thunderbugs
 * 2000: Joya Landis
 * 2001: Maggie Reilly
 * 2003: The Shocker
 * 2006: Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
 * 2007: Girlyman, Jill Johnson, Vagiant
 * 2008: Barb Jungr, Randy Crawford (with Joe Sample)
 * 2011: Hanne Boel
 * 2012: Rita Wilson