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By Bell Records / Blackwood Music – Public Domain, Link
| “Angel of the Morning” | |
|---|---|
| A-side label of U.S. single | |
| Single by Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts | |
| from the album Angel of the Morning | |
| B-side | “Reap What You Sow” |
| Released | February 7, 1968 |
| Recorded | January 1968 |
| Studio | American Sound Studios, Memphis |
| Genre | Pop, country |
| Length | 3:19 |
| Label | Bell |
| Songwriter(s) | Chip Taylor |
| Producer(s) | Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman |
| Merrilee Rush singles chronology | |
| “How’s the Weather on Your Street” (1967)”Angel of the Morning“ (1968)”That Kind of Woman” (1968) | |
| Audio | |
| “Angel of the Morning” on YouTube |
Origins, the original recording, and subsequent versions
The song was composed in 1967 by Chip Taylor, who said of it: “I wrote Angel of the Morning after hearing The Rolling Stones song Ruby Tuesday on the car radio when I was driving into New York City. I wanted to capture that kind of passion.”
“Angel of the Morning” was originally offered to Connie Francis, but she turned it down because she thought that the love affair lyrical message was too risqué for her image.
Taylor produced the first recording of the song with Evie Sands, but the financial straits of Cameo-Parkway Records, which had Sands on their roster, led to a highly limited single release and no promotion.
The second recording was by UK vocalist Billie Davis made in 1967 by Danny Michaels for Lee Hazlewood‘s LHI label. P.P. Arnold provided backup vocals for this version and later released a version alone.
The song became a hit in 1968 through 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 fill out her Angel of the Morning album with the American Sound house band, even though the single and the album would be credited to the group “Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts.”
The single version was released in February 1968, and reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 that June, peaking at No. 7, also reaching No. 1 in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and No. 4 in the Netherlands. The song earned Rush a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary-Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Rush recorded 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 and 1968, in which author-composer Chip Taylor’s niece Angelina Jolie had a starring role.)
In 1968, a rendition by P. P. Arnold, who had sung background on the 1967 Billie Davis version, reached No. 29 in the UK in August 1968.
In 1968, a rendition by Joya Landis was released by Treasure Isle in Jamaica and on Trojan Records in the UK (TR-622).
In 1970 a rendition by Connie Eaton reached No. 34 on the Billboard C&W charts.
In 1977, Mary Mason also had a UK Top 30 hit with her version, which was actually a medley of two Chip Taylor songs, “Angel of the Morning” and “Any Way That You Want Me,” reaching No. 27.
Also in 1977, the British act Guys ‘n’ Dolls had a hit in the Netherlands with the song, and their version reached No. 11 on the Dutch charts.
In 1978, a release by Melba Montgomery reached No. 22 on the Billboard C&W chart.
The Tremeloes
Versions by Chip Taylor
Juice Newton version
By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, Link
| “Angel of the Morning” | |
|---|---|
| Single by Juice Newton | |
| from the album Juice | |
| B-side | “Headin’ for a Heartache” |
| Released | February 1981 |
| Recorded | September 4, 1980 |
| Genre | Country, Soft rock |
| Length | 3:49 3:57 (7″) |
| Label | Capitol 4976 |
| Songwriter(s) | Chip Taylor |
| Producer(s) | Richard Landis |
| Juice Newton singles chronology | |
| “You Fill My Life” (1980)”Angel of the Morning“ (1981)”Queen of Hearts“ (1981) | |
| Audio | |
| “Angel of the Morning” on YouTube |
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. Newton re-interpreted the song at the suggestion of Steve Meyer, who promoted Capitol Records singles and albums 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 even though she immediately recognized the song 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 were sold in the United States, and it 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 video aired on MTV, debuting the day the network launched, 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“, released by reggae artist Shaggy, heavily samples the melody of “Angel of the Morning”. It reached No. 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 album of cover versions, Music Row. This version peaked at No. 30 at the Swedish singles chart.
Film, television and literature
- The Merrilee Rush version of the song is featured in the soundtrack of the films Girl, Interrupted (as noted above) and Violet and Daisy.
- Rush’s 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.
- Rush’s version is referenced in the Stephen King novella The Langoliers, from the collection Four Past Midnight.
- 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. (Though released as a single, it did not chart.)
- The song plays a central role in Graeme Simsion‘s 2016 novel The Best of Adam Sharp.
Instrumental cover by Dave Monk
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, in the film It Chapter Two 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’s singing of the song while he is riding with them in a car. The song also features a parody version in Family Guy with Peter Griffin portraying himself as Deadpool.
( in the film Charlie Wilson’s War (in which it is also sung by Emily Blunt)
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