Morning Has Broken

I struggle to see “Morning Has Broken” as a Christian or church hymn – not because of the words, but because I first knew it as sung by Cat Stevens when I was a teenager. Stevens was, I suppose, in my time, considered a folk-rock singer. Nevertheless, it has been published in many church hymnals (and long before Stevens recorded it).

This editors of the 1931 enlarged edition of Songs of Praise, With Music (Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw, Ralph Vaughan Williams, London: Oxford University Press) asked Eleanor Farjeon to write a hymn of thanksgiving for the day to fit the tune Bunessan. In that book, the hymn is titled “Thanks for a Day” and seems to be based on the theme Psalm 118:24.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

1. Morning has broken Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing Fresh from the Word!

2. Sweet the rain’s new fall Sunlit from heaven,
Like the first dewfall On the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness Of the wet garden,
Sprung in completeness Where God’s feet pass.

3. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning
Born of the one light Eden saw play!
Praise with elation, Praise every morning,
God’s re-creation Of the new day!

The author of the hymn is Eleanor H. Farjeon, born February 13, 1881 in London, the daughter of British novelist Benjamin Leopold Farjeon and Margaret Jane Jefferson. Eleanor was an author primarily of nursery rhymes and children’s educational books. She died June 5, 1965, and is >buried at the St John-at-Hampstead Churchyard in London, England.

The hymn is set to the tune Bunessan. Bunessan is considered a traditional Gaelic melody. It was first published in >Songs and Hymns of the Gael, with Translations and Music (Lachlan Macbean, Stirling: Eneas MacKay, 1900, p. 60)[i] as the setting for the Mary MacDonald carol “Leanabh an àigh/Child in the Manger.” The meter is not common, 5.5.5.4.D. (or 10.9.10.9.). Many consider its best use as a tune for unison singing.

The “child of the manger” hymn, in English, is metered 5.5.5.3.D. (or 10.9.10.8.) and requires a musical slur on the first word of the 3 line.

1. Child of the manger, infant of Mary,
Outcast and stranger, Lord of all.
Child who inherits all our transgressions,
All our demerits on him fall.

 
2. Monarch have tender delicate children,
Nourished in splendour, proud and gay;
Death soon shall banish honour and beauty
Pleasure shall vanish, forms decay.

3. But the most holy child of Salvation,
Gentle and lowly lived below;
Now as our glorious mighty Redeemer,
See him victorious o’er each foe.

4. Prophets foretold him—infant of wonder;
Angels behold him on his throne;
Worthy our Saviour of all their praises,
Happy for ever are his own.

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[i] Some sources say this book was first published in 1888. I have not yet confirmed that.